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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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:6Dltion De Xuje 

CALIFORNIA AND ALASKA AND OVER THE CANADIAN 

PACIFIC RAILWAY. 
By WiLUAM S. Webb, M.D. 

Elegantly printed in quarto ; size 8x ii inches. Con- 
tains 190 pages of text, printed upon the finest vellum 
paper, and sumptuously bound in full morocco. But ^00 
copies printed. 125.00. 

The volume contains 4 full-page etchings and 88 photo- 
gravures. 

The etchings, which are india proofs, are : 

Mission of San Luis Rey, Cat. By C. Y. Turner. 
Muir Glacier, Alaska. By R. Swain Gifford. 
North Arm, Biscoiasing Lake. By J. C. N1COLI-. 
Lake Louise, near Laggan. By R. C. Minor. 

Among the 88 full-page photogravures will be found 
the following : 

On the Coast, near Monterey. 
Seal Rock Covered with Seals, near Monterey. 
Yosemile Valley, from Artist's Point. 
Glacier Point, J, 200 feet, Yosemite Valley. 
Vancouver , from Canadian Pacific Railway Docks. 
Douglas Firs, on Vancouver Town-Site. 
Floating Ice, near Muir Glacier. 
Typical View along the Coast of Alaska. 
Great Glacier, Canadian Pacific Railway. 

Canadian Pacific Raihvay Station and Mount Sir Donald Glacier. 
Hermit Range, from Hotel , Showi>ig Canadian Pacific Railway Station. 
Lower Kicking Horse Canyon, near Golden. 

' ' Dr. Webb affords a vivacious description of the country traversed, 
as well as of the personal experiences of the travelling party. His 
chronicle is ample, entertaining, and valuable." — The Sun. 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York anh London. 




MJSEMHK lAI.I.S. 



popular lEMtion 

California and Alaska 

AND OVER 

THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY 



WILLIAM SEWARD WEBB 



SECOND EDITION 



ILLUSTRATED 






%ff^S^'- 






G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK LONDON 

27 WEST TWENTY-THIKD STREET 27 KING WII.I.IAM STREET, STRAND 

tlbe TRnicfccrbocficr press 
1891 




COPYRIGHT, iS 



WILLIAM SEWARD WEBB 



'Cbc Tknicficibocftci: iprcss, IWcw IJork 

Electrotypeil, rrinted, and Bound l>y 
&. P. Putnam's Sons 



SJ\ '■> 




INTRODUCTION. 



IN accordance with a time-honored custom, 
1 must, at the outset, explain in a few 
words why this work is given to the pubHc. 
In the winter of 18SS-9, I determined upon 
taking a trip with my family across the conti- 
nent to the Pacific coast, and from thence to 
the city of Mexico. A few friends were in- 
vited to accompany us on our journey. The 
Intention was to be absent about three months 
and a half, and the ist of March, 1889, was 
agreed upon as the starting-day. But the 
severe illness of my daughter, which began 
but a few days prior to our time for leaving, 
disarranged all our plans, and the day of 
departure was postponed until the first week 
in April. 

The more I thought of this proposed jour- 
ney, the more interesting and important it 
seemed to me in the prospective. For, to me 



VI 



Jntrodnctioii. 



at least, it was something more than a trip of 
pleasure, as, indeed, it could not but be to 
any business man. The journey would cover 
the most interesting portion of our country — 
a stretch of territory that is not only the pride 
of every native of the United States, but the 
subject of never ceasing wonder on the part of 
the countless number of educated foreigners 
who come to our shores with the special pur- 
pose of journeying over the same ground. 
Following up this line of thought, I deter- 
mined that an expedition of such interest, in 
which I should enjoy the society not only of 
my own family but of some of my most valued 
friends, was worthy of special and unusual 
preparation. Then it was that I conceived 
the idea of organizing a private train for the 
party, to include a baggage-car. a dining-car, 
and two special cars. 

This train was to run what railroad men 
call "special" from start to finish, i.e., it was 
to be entirely independent of time-tables, 
starting when we wished and running at any 
rate of speed we might elect. Of course, 
under such a scheme the party would be 
relieved of any anxiety they might otherwise 
have had in regard to making connections. 



Introduction. vii 

There were twelve in the party, to wit : Mrs. 
Webb, Frederika, Watson, and "Toots"; 
Mr. and Mrs. Purdy, Dr. McLane, Julian 
Kean, George Bird, my brothers Louis and 
Frank, and myself. 

The unavoidable delay caused by the illness 
of my daughter, already referred to, found the 
season so far advanced when the time came to 
start that we were obliged to omit our visit to 
the city of Mexico. We decided, however, 
that immediately after leaving Omaha we 
would travel to the southward and eventually 
reach the warm climate of Southern California. 

A journey like this, interesting under ordi- 
nary conditions, would seem to be especially 
noteworthy for the manner in which it was 
performed, and, on that account, worthy of 
beinpf chronicled. Hence it is that I have 
seen fit to give an unpretentious and, I trust, 
not entirely uninteresting story of our travels, 
supplemented by illustrations which will be 
found helpful as interpreters of the text. 

The literature on the subject of the western 
part of our country is quite large, and I am 
indebted to several writers for the verification 
and amplification of certain facts, which came 
to my notice generally during the journey — 



viii Introduction. 

more particularly to the excellent works of 
Brace, Bowles, Harper, Nordhoff, and Simpson. 
It is said that " travelling is no fool's errand 
to him who carries his eyes and itinerary along 
with him." We certainly took good care to 
carry our eyes with us, making the best use of 
them that we could, and our itinerary was 
practically laid out months before we com- 
menced our undertaking, which, at the close, 
we found to have been full of wisdom and 
pleasure. It is to be hoped that the reader 
will receive, at least, a reflection of these pleas- 
ant experiences in a perusal of the following 
pages. 

William Seward Webb. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
How Wk Travelled . 



PAGE 
I 



CHAPTER n. 
From New York to Omaha 



CHAPTER HI. 
Denver anj) Colorado Springs 



i6 



CHAPTER IV 
The Parks ov Colorado 



CHAPTER V. 



Santa Fe 



CHAPTER VI. 



Santa Monica 



-^d 



29 



39 



X Cojiteiits. 

CHAPTER VII. 

I'AGE 

Los Angeles. ..... 45 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Monterey ...... 53 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Missions . . . . 68 

CHAPTER X. 
The Yosemite Valley . . .81 

CHAPTER XI 
San Francisco ..... 103 

CHAPTER XII. 
San Francisco ; The Chinese Quarter i 18 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Northern Calii'ornia and Mount 

Shasta . . . . . .130 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Montana .... . . 140 



Cojiteiits. xi 

CHAPTER XV. 

I'AGE 

" The Garden OF Montana " . .154 

CHAPTER XVI. 
From St. Paul to Manitoba . .162 

CHAPTER XVn. 
Mountains and Gorges on the Cana- 
dian Pacific Railway . . .181 

CHAPTER XVHI. 
From Kamloops to Vancouver . .198 

CHAPTER XIX. 
In Alaskan Waters . . . .210 

CHAPTER XX. 
In Alaskan Waters (Concluded) . 224 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Victoria — Winnipeg — Hunting Ex- 
periences ..... 240 

CHAPTER XXII. 
From Winnipeg, Homeward Bound . 256 




ILLUSTRATIONS. 



YOSEMITE FALLS .... 

THE SPECIAL TRAIN 

A CORNER IN THE " ELLSMERE " . 

OLD SAN MIGUEL CHURCH, SANTE FE, NEW MEXICO 

SOUTH PASADENA, SIERRA MADRE MOUNTAINS, AND 

HOTEL ..... 

A STREET IN LOS ANGELES 
A FARM TEAM, NEAR MONTEREY 
THE PALMS OF GLENANNIE 
ON THE COAST NEAR MONTEREY 
THE LAKE AT MONTEREY 
OLD MISSION CHURCH NEAR MONTEREY 

MARIPOSA GROVE BIG TREES . 

THE DEAD GIANT DIAMETER, 30 FEET S 

GLACIER POINT, YOSEMITE 

NEVADA FALLS .... 

MANITOBA COWBOY 

THE SPECIAL TRAIN AT FIELD 

MOUNT STEPHEN, CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY 

FROM THE TOTE ROAD NEAR MOUNT DONALD 

STONY CREEK BRIDGE ..... 

SKETCH NEAR GREAT GLACIER 

xiii 



Frontispiece. 



RAYMOND 

Facins: 



Fdcii 



Faeii 



Facii 



Facint' 



3 
30 

42 
46 

57 
58 
61 

63 
69 

84 
89 
93 
96 
167 

177 
178 
183 
1S5 
187 



XIV 



Illustrations. 



CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY STATION AND MOUNT DONALD 

GLACIER ........ Facing 

CANADIAN PACIFIC STATION, FROM THE GLACIER HOTEL 

THE NARROWS, BISCOTASING LAKE 

SKETCH ON THE NORTH ARM, BISCOTASING LAKE 

AT SAILOR BAR BLUFF, BELOW SPUZZUM 

RED-SUCKER TUNNEL, CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY 

ROADWAY IN STANLEY PARK, VANCOUVER 

INDIAN KIVER CANYON, FROM " PINTA " ANCHORAGE, Facing 

SCENE IN INDIAN TOWN, SITKA 

INDIAN chief's GRAVE, ALASKA 

RUSSIAN BLOCK-HOUSE, SITKA 

FLOATING ICE, NEAR MUIR GLACIER 

SKETCH ON THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY 

CANYON SHOWING THREE TUNNELS 

VIEW NEAR BANFF .... 

ALASKAN GAME, KILLISNOO 

NEPIGON BAY, FROM NEPIGON STATION 

SKIRTING NEPIGON BAY . 

JACKFISH BAY .... 



Faciiii, 



Facinx, 



Facing 

N FRASER 



Facino 



191 
193 
195 
203 
205 
206 
210 
225 
226 
231 
234 

243 
245 

254 

257 
260 
261 



CALIFORNIA AND ALASKA 







FROM NEW YORK 
TO CALIFORNIA AND ALASKA 



CHAPTER I. 



HOW WE TRAVELLED. 



The special train of four cars in which we 
made our journey was probably the most 
thoroughly equipped and most luxurious one 
that has ever been used by a party of trav- 
ellers. On that account the reader will be 
interested in a description of it. 

The first car was what is called a " combi- 
nation car." The forward part of it was used 
for the storage of baggage ; next to this apart- 
ment was a sleeping-room for the cooks and 



2 To California and Alaska. 

porters. After this a bath-room, and next 
adjoinuTg a large smoking- or drawing-room, 
at one end of which was a Chickering piano, 
and at the other a desk, a complete library, 
and proper compartments for guns, fishing- 
rods, and sporting paraphernalia. This smok- 
ing-room was intended as a sitting-room for 
the gentlemen of the party during the evening 
or daytime. This car, called " Buffet No. 60," 
was kindly loaned to me by Mr. John Newell, 
President of the Lake Shore and Michigan 
Southern Railway Company. 

The dining-car came next. All the tables 
had been taken from it, and in their places an 
ordinary dining-table, side-tables, etc., had been 
put in, the same as in a house. Next came a 
car I had formerly used as a special car, the 
" Mariquita," which had been remodelled into 
a nursery-car, and which was occupied by 
Mrs. Webb, the three children, two nurses, and 
a maid. Last of all was my new private car 
" Ellsmere." This w^as occupied by Mr. and 
Mrs. Purdy, Dr. McLane, Mr. Louis Webb, 
Mr. George Bird, Mr. Julian Kean, Mr. Frank 
Webb, and myself. 

In the Buffet car and the " Ellsmere," re- 
spectively the first and last cars of the train, 



How Wc Travelled. 3 

were laree eones, which could be runo- from 
any of the cars ; these were used In the day- 
time to call servants from one part of the train 
to the other, and were to be used at night in 
case of an attack by highwaymen. There 



(2y C<Tiyi^^u^i^ c-^^'tp6i£ 




have been cases heretofore where trains, like 
stage-coaches of old, have been " held up " and 
their occupants compelled to deliver up their 
valuables at the urgent request of some des- 
perate border ruffian. Such instances are, of 



v^ 



4 To California and Alaska. 

course, not very common in the present ad- 
vanced state of Western civilization, but we 
thought it advisable to follow the Irishman's 
suo-o-estion — " it is better to be sure than 
sorry," — and we were consequently well pre- 
pared to give any such intruders a warm 
reception. Our crew of men on the train 
during the daytime was in charge of Colonel 
Oscar Eastmond, who had served in the 
United States army during the war, and since 
then had been holding the position of con- 
ductor. On our road to the Pacific coast we 
had one of Pinkerton's best detectives, who 
took charire of the train at ni2:"ht. After leav- 
intr the Pacific coast, Colonel Eastmond took 
charge of the train at night, and slept in the 
daytime. 

The cookinof on board our train v/as in the 
hands of two of the oldest and best-tried 
cooks on the road, and eight of the best por- 
ters were selected for the part)^ The train 
was also so arranged as to be heated by steam 
from the engines. 

Through the kindness of Mr. Van Home, of 
Montreal, a new steel steamship, belonging to 
the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, and 
which, about this time, had just arrived on the 



How We Travelled. 5 

Pacific coast, was chartered for a two weeks' 
cruise in Alaskan waters. She was entered as 
the writer's yacht in the Yacht Chib, and car- 
ried his yachting colors during the cruise. 

Our start from under the 45th Street bridge 
at the Grand Central Depot, in the great me- 
tropolis, was marked by more than the ordi- 
nary excitement which usually attends events 
of that kind. A large number of friends had 
gathered there to see the party start out, and 
to wave their parting salutes as they called 
out " a pleasant journey and a safe return " — 
a journey which was to take us four times 
across the continent, up into the land of seals, 
and through the British dominions. 



— j> 





CHAPTER II. 



FROM NEW YORK TO OMAHA. 



We arrived at Niagara Falls on Sunday 
morning, the 7th of April. We spent some 
time in admiring the scenery, which was of 
course not new to us, and with which the 
reader is probably familiar. The Falls of 
Niagara are beautiful at all times, but there 
was something in the rich, golden sunrise of 
that lovely April morning which lent an addi- 
tional beauty to the view. The sight of such 
a sunrise recalled our early reading of " Childe 
Harold": 

The morn is up again, the dewy morn, 
With breath all incense, and with cheeks all bloom, 
Laughing the clouds away with playful scorn, 
And living as if earth contained no tomb, — 
And glowing into day. 

We Started for Detroit at a few moments 
past five in the morning, our first stop being 



From New York to Omaha. 7 

at St. Thomas, one hundred and fifteen miles 
from the Falls, where we changed enofines. 
The distance from St. Thomas to Windsor, 
one hundred and eleven miles, we ran in one 
hundred and seven minutes. 

At Windsor, where the transport was in 
waiting and where we were transferred to the 
Detroit side, our first mishap occurred. In 
taking the train off the transport the coupling 
between the " Mariquita " and the dining-car 
was broken. This caused a delay of three 
quarters of an hour. From Detroit to 
Chicago our running time was faster, if any- 
thing, than on the Canada Southern divi- 
sion, the indicator at one time registering a 
speed of sixty-nine miles an hour. Between 
Niles and Michigan City, a distance of thirty- 
six and a half miles, we covered in the remark- 
able time of thirty-two minutes, including one 
stop for grade crossing, which occupied at 
least two minutes. We arrived at Kensing- 
ton, near Chicago, at 5.6, having made the 
run from Suspension Bridge to Kensington, 
four hundred and ninety-seven and a half 
miles, in eleven hours and eleven minutes, 
not including the delay of three quarters of 
an hour at Detroit. All switches were spiked, 



8 To California and Alaska. 

and all freight and passenger trains side- 
tracked to enable us to make this fast run. 
Notwithstanding the remarkable speed at 
which we travelled, none of the party realized 
the rapid rate at which we ran all day. 

In thinking over these wonderful perform- 
ances of locomotive speed we are reminded 
of the phenomenal growth and development 
of the railway in the last century. It seems 
almost incredible that the first locomotive, in- 
vented in London only eighty-five years ago, 
could not make steam, and could neither travel 
fast nor draw a heavy load. The first loco- 
motive in this country was run in 1829, and 
operated by the Delaware and Hudson Canal 
Company, connecting the coal mines with the 
canal. That same year Peter Cooper experi- 
mented with a little locomotive, and once re- 
lated, with great glee, how, on the trial trip, he 
had beaten a gray horse attached to another 
car. 

On our arrival at Chicago our division 
superintendent, Mr. Spoor, and a number of 
railroad men were waitinor to meet us. The 
party, with the exception of the children, 
went to the Richelieu Hotel, where we dined. 
In the meantime the train was sent on the 



From Neio York to Omaha. 9 

belt line to the Chicago and Northwestern 
Depot. 

We left Chicago a little after eight o'clock 
Monday morning, April 8th, and arrived in 
Council Bluffs, four hundred and ninety-three 
miles from Chicago, in about twelve hours, 
the quickest time that has ever been made 
between these two points. As on the Michi- 
gan Central, the road was cleared, and the 
switches were spiked the entire distance. We 
had only one engine with the same engineer 
all the distance from Chicago to Council 
Bluffs. This circumstance is remarkable, for 
the distance has never been covered before in 
one run by one engine. The officials of the 
road, however, had spare engines at different 
points, fired up with crews in waiting to take 
the place of ours should anything give out. 
A master mechanic was also sent all the way 
through with the train, in order to be in readi- 
ness should any accident occur to the engine. 
Our enorineer, not beine accustomed to the 
last three divisions of the road, had a pilot 
over each division, and was thus enabled to 
keep up his high speed. 

On our arrival at Council Bluffs, through 
some misunderstandinor, the Union Pacific 



lo To California and Alaska. 

Railroad had an engine and crew ready to take 
us throucrh "special" to Ogden, they having 
conceived the idea that it was our intention 
to go directly through to the Pacific coast via 
the Union and Central Pacific lines, and had 
arranged to give us a very fast run to the 
coast. There is no doubt that had we gone 
by their line we should have made the quick- 
est time from ocean to ocean that has ever 
been made, or is likely to be made for years 
to come. Mr. Orr, their representative, met 
us at the Union Depot, and taking special en- 
gine and car we went with him to see the city 
of Omaha, returning late in the evening. 

Council Bluffs is one of the oldest towns in 
Western Iowa. As early as 1846 it was 
known as a Mormon settlement and called 
Kanesville, a name which it retained until 
1853, when the Legislature granted a char- 
ter designating the place as the City of Coun- 
cil Bluffs. The city includes within her 
corporate limits about twenty-four square 
miles, and the surrounding country is rich 
in farming- land. 

From the appearance of the country we 
passed through at this time we were reminded 
that springtime was at hand. In various sec- 



From Nezv York to Omaha. i i 

tions we saw the farmers ploughing-, and the 
erass startino- out of the crround. The soil 

o o o 

was of a dark color, evidently of sufficient 
richness to be independent of a fertilizer. 
One does not wonder that farmers in this sec- 
tion of the country can raise from forty to 
forty-five bushels of corn to the acre. 

When we entered the State of Iowa, which 
we did after passing Fulton, the large amount 
of stock, especially cattle, seen on every farm, 
was particularly noticeable. 

At every town between Chicago and Omaha 
there were groups of people at the various 
stations, ranging in numbers from fifty to five 
hundred, waitincr to see our train otq throuo-h. 
For it was known all along the line of the road 
that our excursion party was coming, from the 
fact that the switches at all stations had been 
spiked, all trains side-tracked, and employes 
of the road near the several stations had been 
placed with white flags at the different cross- 
ings just previous to the passage of the train. 
These peculiar preparations, of course, brought 
an inquiring crowd about, who waited to see 
our train pass through. 

The city of Omaha, to which point our spe- 
cial train was taken on the morning of the 



12 To California and Alaska. 

9th, furnishes a striking example of Western 
growth and enterprise. Each time that the 
visitor stops here he finds some new evidence 
of improvement. Portions of the town that, 
but a few months before, were barren plains, 
are laid out in streets and lined with substan- 
tial houses of fine appearance. The railroad 
terminals and properties near the depot serve 
to indicate that this city is one of the most 
important railroad centres of the West. 

Omaha was settled in 1854, when a few 
squatters fixed upon this section for their 
residence, the country at that time being a 
part of the Territory of Nebraska. The sit- 
uation of the town commands for it an ex- 
tensive trade with the West. The shops of 
the Union Pacific Railroad, the smelting works 
for refining silver ore from the mountains, and 
manufactories of various kinds give employ- 
ment to many mechanics and laborers. The 
bridge across the Missouri, built by the Union 
Pacific Company, and costing over a million 
dollars, is one of the finest structures of the 
kind in the country. It stands sixty feet 
above high-water mark, and has, besides a 
railroad track, a street-car track and a wagon 
way. 



From New York to Omaha. 13 

The ride from Omaha to Kansas City was 
through a part of the country which was new 
to most of us, and full of interest. We fol- 
lowed the river route the whole distance to 
Kansas City, passing the city of Leavenworth, 
one of the largest and most flourishing towns 
in the State, surrounded by one of the richest 
agricultural regions in the valley of the Mis- 
souri. In 1853, only thirty-six years ago, the 
site of this city was covered with hazel-brush, 
and wolves roamed about the country unmo- 
lested. Now it has schools, churches, acade- 
mies, and theatres. It is the headquarters for 
outfitting government supply trains for West- 
ern posts, and has a very large trade with the 
Territories. The government farm, located 
here, is one of the largest and most productive 
in the country. Fort Leavenworth, two miles 
from the city, is situated on a bluff one hundred 
and fifty feet high, and was established in 1827. 
Connected with the fort is stabling for eight 
thousand horses and fifteen thousand mules. 

Our stop at Omaha was made particularly 
agreeable and noteworthy from the fact that, 
soon after our arrival. Bishop Worthington of 
the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska called upon 
us, and took the ladies of the party for a drive 



14 To California and Alaska. 

around the city. We did not have such a 
pleasant experience at Kansas City. Through 
some misunderstanding on the part of the 
railroad officials, our train, instead of being 
taken into the depot, was left in the freight 
yards. As a result of this arrangement, the 
ladies were deprived of the pleasure of visiting 
various points of interest in the city. Some 
of the gentlemen of the party, with considera- 
ble difficulty, managed to find their way to 
the passenger depot, and rode about town in 
the well-known cable cars. Though Kansas 
City was settled in 1830, it was twenty-five 
years before it began to improve and increase 
in population. After the breaking out of the 
war its commerce was almost ruined, but with 
peace came prosperity, and since 1865 its ad- 
vance has been marvellous. Kansas City has 
the honor of having built the first bridge 
across the Missouri, which it did at a cost 
of one million dollars. 

Soon after our arrival at this place the 
Pinkerton night-watchman reported for duty 
— his services being considered necessary from 
Kansas City to San Francisco. 

When passing through Topeka, on the At- 
chison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, Mr. 



Frovi Neiv York to Omaha. 15 

Robinson, the General Manager of the road, 
called upon us and, on behalf of the President 
of the company, extended to us the use of his 
company's line on our Western trip, cour- 
teously adding that arrangements had been 
made to make our trip as pleasant as possible. 

The country through which we passed at 
this time, though very flat and sparsely popu- 
lated, seemed admirably adapted to farming. 
The appearance of the farms and buildings 
showed that the people enjoyed more than 
the usual degree of prosperity peculiar to 
pastoral life. 

A notable sight served to recall the past 
history of this country, and place it in sharp 
contrast with the present — this was the old 
cattle trails used by ranchmen in driving their 
cattle from Texas and the South into Montana, 
Wyoming, and Dakota, before railroads had 
been built to perform such service quickly and 
cheaply. Sitting in our luxuriously appointed 
palace-car, and noting this point of interest, 
together with the overland wagon roads used 
in former years, we could not but recall the 
vast progress that has been made of late years 
in furnishing transportation facilities for a 
journey across the continent. 




CHAPTER 111. 
DENVER AND COLORADO SPRINGS. 

We reached Pueblo, the chief city of South- 
ern Colorado, on the evening of April loth, 
where we were delayed for two hours, owing to 
a wash-out. The Spanish-speaking people and 
the French hunters and trappers who lived in 
this section before the march of improvement 
began, gave queer-sounding names to the moun- 
tains, streams, and the small settlements as they 
began to be formed. Pueblo is a sample ; but 
when the early settlers came they soon changed 
all this, and the brakemen on the Western 
roads certainly have cause to be thankful that 
plain Anglo-Saxon names have replaced the 
queer titles that were common in the early days. 

It was so cold coming up the grade over the 
mountains that we had to build fires in all the 
cars, but when we reached Denver we found 
the weather warm and pleasant. Our stop at 

i6 



Denver aiid Colorado Springs. i 7 

this point was made more agreeable from the 
fact that we received our mail, which had come 
over the Union Pacific line from Chicago. 
We sent a mail-bag East with letters from 
all parties to relatives and friends at home. 
The chronicler of the expedition had talked 
into a phonograph a diary of the experiences 
that had befallen the party since starting from 
New York. The cylinders containing this ma- 
terial were included in the outeoine mail, and 
were in such a shape that they could be trans- 
cribed by a clerk into *' every-day English." 

Denver has a right to lay claim to the title 
" Queen City of the Plains " ; it is to-day one 
of the largest and, in many respects, one of 
the handsomest towns in the West. Twenty 
years ago its population was only fifteen hun- 
dred ; to-day it has over eighty thousand 
inhabitants. Thirty years ago the inhabi- 
tants formed an odd social mixture. There 
were refined and educated men fi'om the 
Eastern towns, and there were rough and dis- 
reputable characters, hailing from the purlieus 
of our great cities and the rough settlements 
of the far West, all animated with one pur- 
pose — the search for gold. In 1873 Denver 
suffered from the financial disaster which had 



1 8 To California and Alaska. 

been felt in the East, and in 1875 and 1876 it 
was visited with the grasshopper plague, which 
resulted in a great loss of crops and the with- 
drawal of a large amount of capital from the 
banks. After these clouds of adversity came 
the sunshine of prosperity, only two years 
later, in 1877, when the export of beeves was 
the largest ever known. Two years ago the 
real-estate sales amounted to $29,345,451, an 
increase of eighteen millions over those for 
the year 1886. 

Though Denver is a thorough, go-ahead, 
practical city, where money and business en- 
terprise are highly appreciated and made the 
most of, it is claimed that the town contains 
more resident college graduates than any other 
town of the same size in the United States. 
It makes no pretensions to be a literary cen- 
tre ; the class of literature found in its whole- 
sale and retail book-stores, however, shows it 
to be abreast of the culture of the day. 

Denver may be called the commercial centre 
of Colorado, and, in some respects, resembles 
the thriving town of Springfield, Massachu- 
setts, It is situated on a series of plateaus, 
fifteen miles from the foot of the Rocky 
Mountains. The selection of the site was 



Denver and Colorado Springs. 19 

made by accident. The early gold-hunters 
who went into the State found a few grains 
of gold in the sandy bed of Cherry Creek, a 
small stream that flows into the South Platte 
River near the town. The hunters called the 
place Auraria, a decidedly appropriate cogno- 
men. When it became known that gold had 
been found in this vicinity, hunters came from 
all parts of the States as well as New Mexico, 
and it became, even for those times, a thriving 
settlement, where hunters and miners could 
replenish their stores and complete their out- 
fits for expeditions into the mountains. As a 
matter of fact very little gold was found here, 
but the adventurers kept up the delusion of 
the fabulous richness of the mountain placers 
as long as they could. When the bubble 
finally burst, the town was named Denver, 
in honor of Col. }. W. Denver, who was then 
the Governor of Kansas, in which all this 
mountain region was at that time included. 
Fifteen railroads to-day centre in Denver. 
The Union Depot would be a credit to any of 
our well-developed Eastern cities. It is con- 
structed almost entirely of stone quarried in 
the State, and is 503 feet long by 69 feet wide. 
The central tower is 165 feet high, and con- 



20 To California and Alaska. 

tains an illuminated clock. An idea can be 
formed of the immense amount of railroad 
traffic carried on in this structure when it is 
stated that over two hundred thousand pieces 
of baggage are handled within its walls in the 
course of a year. 

Denver is practically supported by the three 
great industries, mining, agriculture, and stock- 
raising. Though silver was not found until 
1870, the yield of that metal in 1886 was 
nearly $17,000,000. Ore is sent to the city 
not only from Colorado but from New Mexico 
and Old Mexico, Montana, Arizona, Idaho, 
Oregon, Nevada, and South America. Of 
six million acres of agricultural land in Colo- 
rado, two thirds have been taken up, and mil- 
lions of dollars are invested in raising cattle 
and sheep. 

The city itself has a very inviting appear- 
ance. We drove through Its handsome streets, 
and admired the beautiful residences and 
buildings to be seen on every hand, not for- 
getting that this wonderful development was 
the growth of the last twenty-five years. 

After seeing everything of interest in the 
city, and obtaining certain necessary supplies, 
we left for Colorado Springs. This is a beauti- 



Denver and Colorado Springs. 2 1 

ful city, charmingly situated at the toot of 
Pike's Peak. When Lieutenant Zebulon Pike 
was ordered, in 1806, by General Wilkinson, 
to explore the region between Missouri and 
the frontier of Mexico, he described the great 
peak, saying that it "appeared like a small 
blue cloud." He named it Mexican Mountain, 
but afterwards, in honor of his bravery, it was 
given the name of Pike's Peak. 

It may not be generally known that we owe 
the existence of Colorado Springs to a railroad 
company — or rather, to the National Land 
and Improvement Company, which was started 
by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Com- 
pany. This organization purchased a tract of 
land, five miles distant from the Springs, and 
spent large sums in laying out broad streets 
and planting along their sides rows of cotton- 
wood trees. It expended forty thousand dol- 
lars for the construction of a canal so that 
water could be brought to the town. In order 
to develop the place, it gave a valuable build- 
ing lot for church purposes to each of the 
Christian denominations. Each deed of land 
provided a heavy penalty in case liquor should ^ 
be sold, or otherwise disposed of, on the / 
premises. • 



22 To California and Alaska. 

How far these temperance principles are 
carried out at the present time, we do not 
know. We have heard, however, that when a 
man wants his beer, he gets a certificate of 
membership in a "beer" club, thus becoming 
a shareholder, and the law cannot prevent 
him from usine the beverage. 

Colorado Springs is noted, far and near, 
as a health resort, and, durine the summer 
months, its hotels are crowded with health- 
seekers from Western Kansas and Southern 
California. In the winter season many New 
Yorkers and residents of our large Eastern 
cities are seen on its streets. According to 
competent medical authority, the climate and 
waters are good in cases of nervous exhaustion, 
bad circulation, defective nutrition, and ma- 
laria. The climate is also said to be good for 
consumptives, setting the healthy processes of 
life going with increased vigor. Persons who 
are affected with heart trouble, however, are 
not advised to visit this section of the country. 




CHAPTER IV. 
THE PARKS OF COLORADO. 

On the morning of April 12th, soon after 
breakfast, our party divided, some starting in 
carriages, and some on horseback, for Manitou 
and the Garden of the Gods, others taking a 
different direction. 

Manitou, much to the deHght of its resi- 
dents, has gained the name of the Saratoga 
of the West. It is about five miles from 
Colorado Springs, and has grown from a 
small settlement of log cabins to a good-sized 
village. It lies at the base of Pike's Peak, 
and seems perfectly hemmed in by surround- 
ing hills, and altogether shut off from the 
outside world. The air is very fine, and the 
waters are said to be a cure for rheumatism, 
liver troubles, blood poisoning, and diabetes. 
It seems that the Indians of Colorado, in early 
times, were in the habit of using these waters 

23 



24 To Califor7iia and Alaska. 

when they felt the need of a tonic. The bene- 
ficial effects of the climate and the waters are 
illustrated by the saying of the Western man, 
that he was kept there simply as an example 
of what the country would do for a man, add- 
insf, that he came from Chicago on a mattress. 

" The Garden of the Gods " is the fanciful 
title which has been bestowed upon a valley 
of small dimensions, lying about four miles 
from Colorado Springs. Its special features 
are a number of shelf-like rocks, upheaved 
into perpendicular position, some of them 
rising to about three hundred and fifty feet in 
height. The road enters the Garden through 
a narrow passage-way, between two towering 
but narrow ledges of cliffs. This entrance is 
called the gateway. The rocks are mostly of 
a very soft brilliantly red sandstone, although 
one ridge of cliffs is of a white sandstone. 
Some of the foot-hills in the vicinity are sur- 
mounted by similar upheavals, forming ridges 
of serrated rock, while round the main cliff in 
the valley are separate spire-like columns. 
These rock formations for years have been a 
feature of peculiar interest to the geologist. 

These parks are really nothing more than 
large fertile valleys, shut in by the spurs or 



The Parks of Colorado. 25 

branches of the Rocky Mountains. North 
Park, which lies in the extreme northern part 
of the State, has not been thoroughly explored 
and settled, owing to its remote situation and 
colder climate. Its forests abound with bear, 
deer, and other wild game, and it is a favorite 
resort for the adventurous sportsman. 

Middle Park is directly south of North Park, 
and is surrounded by Long's Peak, Gray's 
Peak, and Mount Lincoln, each from thirteen 
thousand to fifteen thousand feet high. Its 
territory is made up of forests and large, ex- 
pansive meadows, among the grasses of which 
will be found wild flowers of nearly every hue. 
South Park lies below. It is surrounded by 
high mountains, and its climate and scenery 
are delightful. 

San Luis Park, in Southern Colorado, is 
about twice the size of the State of New 
Hampshire. In its centre there is a beautiful 
lake, and its mountains are covered with for- 
ests of pine, fir, spruce, oak, and cedar, and 
large meadows which produce a rich growth of 
grasses. Cattle obtain the most wholesome 
subsistence on the grasses of the plains below, 
and medicinal springs are found in every 
direction. 



26 To California and Alaska. 

Monument Park, which is reached by the 
Rio Grande and Denver road, is so called 
from its resemblance to a vast cemetery 
containing monuments of a departed and 
long-forgotten race. These monuments are 
composed of a very close conglomerate, sur- 
mounted by a material of darker color and 
harder texture. 

Two of our party, on this occasion, with an 
engine and one of our cars, took a trip up the 
Colorado Midland Railroad, over the moun- 
tains, as far as Green Mountain Park. This 
is a beautiful, sequestered little nook, and con- 
tains a summer hotel, surrounded by green 
and well-kept lawns. There is a fountain, too, 
and the whole appearance of the place is in 
striking contrast with the cold peaks of granite 
and snow that surround the settlement. On 
our return we took up the rest of the party at 
a way station, and all returned to Colorado 
Springs. 

The scenery on the Colorado Midland road 
is extremely fine, and the journey was espe- 
cially interesting, from the fact that we saw 
some wonderful specimens of engineering 
work. The bridges and viaducts on this road 
are truly remarkable. In places the grade is 



The Parks of Colorado. 27 

from two hundred and eighty to three hundred 
and ten feet a mile. The curves are very fre- 
quent ; the road-bed winding first through a 
tunnel, then passing over a precipice across 
gorges, all the time pursuing a serpentine 
course, now twisting this way, now that, in 
making the ascent of the mountain. So steep 
are the grades that not more than twelve 
freiofht cars are allowed to o-o down the moun- 
tain with one engine, and six of these are 
required to be equipped with air brakes. 

As the railroad pursues its winding way 
along the side of the mountain, the passengers 
can look down into the ororo-e below, and see 
the old road which the Forty-niners used in 
their perilous trips across the continent to the 
gold-fields. Many travellers, it is said, were 
waylaid and killed in this section by the 
Indians ; and many others lay down to die, 
utterly worn out with fatigue, after their long 
and unsuccessful wanderings in search of the 
precious metal. 

From Colorado Springs we went to Pueblo. 
At that place, through the courtesy of the offi- 
cials of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, 
an observation car was placed at our disposal, 
and we made a run over their line of about 



28 



To California and Alaska. 



forty-four miles to Canyon City, through the 
Royal Gorge, in which the Arkansas River runs. 

In many places the sides of the canyon 
through which this stream flows are so close 
that the only way a railroad could be built 
there was by putting rafters from one side to 
the other and suspending the track from them 
over the sureinof torrent beneath. 

Our party enjoyed this trip very much, and 
returned to Pueblo in time for dinner. Mr. 
Drake, Superintendent of the Atchison, To- 
peka, and Santa Fe Railroad, now left us, 
having been in our company two days ; he 
had shown us all the points of interest along 
the route. 





CHAPTER V. 



SANTA FE. 



On the morning of April 13th we left Trin- 
idad with one enormous consolidated loco- 
motive and one mogul locomotive, and started 
over the Raton Range. The grade at this 
point is very steep, and it took these two 
heavy engines to haul our train over. A little 
over thirty years ago, " the Army of the 
West," then under command of General 
Kearny, marched over almost the same route 
the railroad takes to-day. When the soldiers 
crossed the Raton Mountains they were often 
obliged to drag the wagons up with ropes on 
one side, and let them down on the other in 
the same way. 

At the top of the mountains we passed 
through a longf tunnel and then commenced 
the descent of the western slope. The tunnel 
is approached on either side by a very heavy 

29 



so 



To California and Alaska. 



grade, and in some places shows singular 
seams or streaks of coal in its inner walls. 
Mr. Dyer, Superintendent of the New Mex- 
ico division of the Santa Fe road, had joined 
us at Trinidad, and very kindly pointed out 
to us the objects of interest. We arrived at 
Las Vegas (which, in English, means " the 
meadows") about noon. It is at this point 
that passengers leave the train for the Hot 
Springs, about seven miles distant. 




The old Plaza, a short distance away from 
the railroad station at Las Vegas, is said to 



Santa FL 31 

look about the same as when General Kearny, 
after crossinof the mountains, stood there and 
made an address to the Mexican people. There 
is an ancient church with a rude cross in front. A 
large singular-looking three-story building also 
attracts the attention of the visitor. This is 
a hotel evidently of a rather primitive pattern. 
A certain witty traveller once stopped here, 
and the landlord assured him that he had 
slept in the same bed which, centuries ago, 
had been occupied by Montezuma. In a burst 
of confidence the landlord also added that he 
intended soon to put an additional story on 
the structure. " I told him," said the traveller, 
"that he'd better put a new story on the 
kitchen, and another coat of whitewash on 
those slats I slept on." 

The weather in this section was warm, al- 
most summer-like. As we receded from the 
country we had just been visiting, we looked 
back and saw the snow-capped mountains to 
the north of us, in the distance. As we jour- 
neyed to the south their towering icy peaks 
gradually grew smaller and smaller, and when 
we finally gained a complete entrance into the 
Southern land, they seemed like mere specks 
on the horizon. 



32 To California and Alaska. 

At Lamy, where we arrived about two 
o'clock, we left the main line and ran up to 
Santa Fe, reaching the quaint old city in a little 
over an hour. Our party there divided, some 
taking carriages and others walking, and start- 
ed out to see the town. The most enthusias- 
tic traveller would not call it a very inspiring 
place. The evidences of extreme poverty, 
dirt, and squalor were met with on every side, 
and these the bright sun and genial climate 
seemed rather to enhance than to modify. 
Poverty, when seen in some portions of a 
tropical climate, is neither sad nor dishearten- 
ing, but there was something about the ap- 
pearance of the poor of this town that was 
peculiarly depressing to the visitor. In a 
large public square we noticed a number of 
improvements being made by a gang of con- 
victs, who were guarded by keepers stationed 
around the fences, seated on boxes or other 
improvised seats, each one with a heavy Win- 
chester rifle across his lap. 

While in this part of the country we can- 
not fail to recall the fact that in 1527a Spaniard, 
landing in what is now Florida, made an over- 
land journey which occupied him nine years, 
passing through the country now known as 



Santa Fe. 



33 



New Mexico, and finally reached the City of 
Mexico. 

We have already alluded to the enterprising 
soldier and explorer, Z. M. Pike, who did much 
to start the profitable trade over what for years 
has been known as the Santa Fe Trail. This 
old town, and the settlement adjacent to it had, 
up to that time, been dependent upon Mex- 
ico for the various supplies they needed. Four 
men who started in 1812, animated by the 
spirit of commercial enterprise, reached Santa 
Fe in safety, but they did not get back home 
until nine years later, having been imprisoned 
on some pretext or other. In the following 
year, however — 1813, — the famous Santa Fe 
Trail was really opened. It is about eight 
hundred miles in length, and remains very 
much to-day as it was half a century ago, when 
the necessities of commercial intercourse led 
to its being opened. 

The first traders used mules or pack-horses 
in carrying their merchandise, and it was not 
until 1824 that it was deemed advisable to 
employ wagons in the traffic. After this 
method of transportation was introduced, the 
amount of trade increased wonderfully. The 
initial points were towns on the Missouri 



34 T"o California and Alaska. 

River, about one hundred and fifty miles west 
of St. Louis. What a motley group of char- 
acters must have gathered at these centres in 
the early days of travel across the plains ! Of 
course there were traders, adventurers, plenty 
of that class of men who have failed in nearly 
every undertaking, and who may be called 
" the misfits " of life ; there were young men 
who came from the East to the new country, 
ready to take their chances in almost any kind 
of speculation ; and there were old men who 
thouQfht, as their lives were eoine out toward 
the setting sun of existence, their fortunes 
might as well tend in the same direction, and, 
singular to say, there were many invalids who 
believed that this rough journey across the 
plains, with its open-air life and excitement, 
might be to them a means of regaining the 
health they had lost. 

The quaint wagons, or "schooners," as they 
came to be called, were at first drawn by 
horses, then mules, and finally by mules and 
oxen. A party or caravan would number 
about one hundred wagons, and would be 
divided into four equal sections, each in 
charge of some responsible man. At night 
the caravan would come to a halt, form a 



Santa Fe. 



35 



hollow square, and each member, in turn, 
would be obliged to mount guard. If these 
lay soldiers could have stood up together, the 
sight of them would surely have furnished a 
greater fund of amusement than Falstaff's 
rasfcred band of warriors, for here were men 
representing not only all degrees of fortune, 
but all the leading nationalities, some of them, 
during their midnight vigils, as brave and 
tempestuous as the lion-hearted Richard, 
others exhibitintr the amusinor cowardice of 
Bob Acres. 

In addition to the merchandise, each wagon 
carried a good supply of staples, flour, sugar, 
coffee, and bacon ; for fresh meat they de- 
pended upon killing buffaloes along the route. 

One of the most interesting things we saw 
as we came down the Raton Rano^e through 
a pleasant valley, was the large " Maxwell 
Grant," representing one and three-quarter 
million acres. While we were passing through 
this section, we saw thousands and thousands 
of cattle roaming about, and twice during the 
day our train ran into a number of them that had 
broken through the wire fence, unfortunately 
killing a few of the poor creatures each time. It 
was a strange sight, also, to see beautiful ante- 



36 To California and Alaska. 

lope occasionally dart up close to the track, 
and then scamper away at the sound of the 
locomotive whistle. 

Our journey over the Atchison, Topeka, 
and Santa Fe road we found very interesting 
on account of the beautiful scenery along the 
route. The mechanical and working condition 
of the road, also, was far better than we had 
expected to find it. Its motive power is cer- 
tainly equal to that of any road in the Eastern 
States, and, as far as could be seen, it is kept 
in perfect repair, 

A word or two about our domestic life upon 
the train, to which, by this time, we had be- 
come thoroughly accustomed. It certainly 
seemed stranore to us, while travellinof through 
a wild and desolate country, to listen to the 
notes of the piano in the buffet-car, which we 
found the pleasantest of lounging places, as 
we spent nearly every evening after dinner 
there singing and playing, the ladies generally 
retiring about ten, the rest of the party about 
eleven, after talking over what we had seen 
during the day. 

It was a long journey for children to under- 
take, but they remained perfectly well, and it 
was surprising to see how quickly the little 



Santa Fe. 



37 



ones became used to the motion of the train. 
For two or three days after we started, it was 
a matter of considerable difficulty for them to 
maintain their equilibrium in their journeys 
about the car ; this was particularly the case 
with the baby. They had many a fail, which, 
however, in the excitement of the journey, 
they took with much good-nature, and it was 
not long before they could navigate about 
their swift-moving nursery with as much con- 
fidence as the oldest railroad conductor on the 
road. 

It was a matter of great good-fortune to us 
that we brought the dining-room car, for there 
was scarcely a meal at which there were not 
present one or two guests. On various divi- 
sions of the roads we travelled over, we enter- 
tained the officials who showed us so much 
courtesy, and it would have been utterly im- 
possible to have, cooked for such a large party 
in the kitchen of either the " Ellsmere" or the 
" Mariquita." We found, too, that our stores 
held out well, which was a matter to be thank- 
ful for, as it would have been very difficult, in 
fact impossible, to get some of them in the 
sparsely settled country through which we 
passed. We received telegrams from home 



38 



To California and Alaska. 



every day, and were thus kept e7i rappoi-t with 
the domestic scenes we had left, and we were 
careful to send dispatches quite as often to the 
members of our respective families. 




CHAPTER VI. 
SANTA MONICA. 

Owing to some misunderstanding, we were 
delayed in getting a crew on the Atlantic and 
Pacific Railroad, and lost considerable time 
on this account. This was the only road we 
had been over which did not provide a division 
superintendent to call attention to the scenery 
and point out the objects of interest. The 
country was flat, and deserted-looking, and the 
train meandered through it over a poor road- 
bed at a slow rate of speed. As we came 
over the Arizona divide down to the Colorado 
River, the scenery was very fine. When we 
crossed Canon Diablo, the gruesome remem- 
brance came to us that but two weeks before 
that time a train was " held up " by robbers. 

While singing hymns on Sunday evening, 
at a station where the train stopped to take 
water, an old resident of the neighborhood 

39 



40 To California and Alaska. 

came to our buffet-car, the door of which had 
been left open on account of the heat. He 
received a pleasant greeting, and apologized 
for his intrusion by saying that he wanted to 
hear us sing the hymns and play the piano, as 
the music was something he never heard out 
there ; it was thirty years since he had been 
in any part of the country where religious 
tunes were sune. 

The scenery near a point called Flag Staff 
was very peculiar and different from anything 
that we had seen on this road thus far. An 
hour or so before reaching this point, we en- 
tered a large grove of yellow pine-trees through 
which we rode until we reached the station 
mentioned. We passed through the Mojave 
Desert early on the morning of Monday, April 
15th; as there was a very heavy dew the 
night before, we fortunately did not suffer 
from the dust to any extent. This desert 
must truly be a terrible place to pass through 
on a hot summer's day. With the exception 
of the stubbly cactus, not a particle of vege- 
tation of any kind can be seen as far as the 
eye can reach. 

On our arrival at Barstow, the officials of 
the California Central Railroad gave our train 



Santa Monica. 41 

a fine run over the San Bernardino Moun- 
tains. In the high altitudes which we trav- 
ersed we passed through snow near the 
summits of the hilltops ; then, coming down 
the mountain (tlie grade being one hundred 
and ninety feet per mile ;) we gradually entered 
a beautiful green and fertile valley. The 
town of San Bernardino, which was an old 
Mormon settlement, is located here, and just 
before entering it, we passed through an 
oranofe erove covered with a wealth of beau- 
tiful flowers. The ofrass in the fields was 
growing luxuriantly, and the contrast between 
the cold and desolation of the mountain 
heights we had just left and the beautiful 
valley we were entering was truly remarkable. 

The whole valley is walled in by bold and 
precipitous mountains formed of soft, white 
stone, giving them the appearance of white 
sand. Fruit of all kinds grows in abundance, 
particularly the orange and the lemon. 

From San Bernardino we took the Cali- 
fornia Southern road to Los Angeles, passing 
through Pasadena, celebrated for its orange 
and fruit groves ; the temptation to stop here 
was very great, but had to be resisted. At 
Los Anofeles the aeent of the Central Pacific 



42 To California and Alaska. 

Railroad Company met our party, presenting 
a very kind letter from Mr. Towne, the Gen- 
eral Manager, who urged us to make our own 
plans for travelling over his road, stating that 
every convenience would be at our command, 
and adding that we should not hesitate to call 
upon him for any service we wanted. An 
engine and crew were placed at our disposal 
immediately with orders to remain with us as 
long as we required their services. 

We left at once for Santa Monica, a charm- 
ing watering-place on the coast but a few miles 
distant. It was here that we obtained our 
first view of the Pacific Ocean, the sight of 
which served to remind us more strongly than 
could a glance at our itinerary of the vast 
amount of territory we had covered ; for it 
was only nine days before this that we had 
left the Grand Central Depot in New York, 
and felt the warm hand-pressure of our friends 
who had bade us good-bye. Considering the 
number of nights we did not travel, and the 
number of days spent in visiting different 
points of interest, the trip had been truly re- 
markable. We had cause to be thankful, also, 
that there had been no accidents of any im- 
portance, and that all our party were in the 



Santa Monica. a-i 

enjoyment of perfect health. Every part of 
our train, up to this time, stood the trip re- 
markably well, with the exception of the brake 
shoes, the wear upon which was so severe 
coming over the Raton Range, that they had 
to be renewed later on. 

On our arrival at the sea-coast the children 
expressed their joy by scampering on the 
beach, and one of our party visited the swim- 
ming-baths in the vicinity. The air was de- 
lightful, and blossoming roses and flowers 
could be seen in the beautiful garden in front 
of the hotel. 

Santa Monica, though a small town, is beau- 
tifully located, and has been called the Long 
Branch of the Pacific coast. Its population is 
very largely increased during the summer 
months. The hotel, a magnificent building, 
standing against a mountain side, is owned by 
the railroad company. The upper stories 
open upon the bluff, and the lower floors upon 
the beach. During our stop here our train 
stood on a platform overhanging the Pacific 
Ocean at the edge of the bluff. We remained 
here until after dark. The night was clear 
and the moon shone brightly over the waves 
as they chased each other toward the beach. 



44 To California a)id Alaska. 

The landscape was beautiful, and recalled those 
lines of " The Culprit Fay": 

'T is the middle watch of a summer night, 

The earth is dark, but the heavens are bright, 

Naught is seen in the vault on high 

But the moon, and the stars, and the cloudless sky, 

And the flood that rolls its milky hue, 

A river of light on the welkin blue. 

What might have been a serious accident 
aroused our party quite early the following 
morning ; a servant notified us that the dining- 
car was on fire, and the crew could not put it 
out. The fire extinguishers had been used, 
but not with entire success. It was not until 
a portion of the roof, which was discovered to 
be very hot had been cut through that the 
flames burst through the aperture. The fire 
raged with considerable violence, but was 
quickly extinguished when once the source of 
the trouble had been found. The accident 
was caused by the use of soft coal in the 
kitchen range. 

We left Santa Monica at eight o'clock in the 
morning and arrived at Los Angeles after 
about an hour's ride. 



CHAPTER VII. 



LOS ANGELES. 



On reaching Los Angeles, a number of 
mechanics, who were in waiting, promptly re- 
paired the damage to our car, and the party 
went to a hotel for lunch. 

Los Angeles is the oldest and largest city 
in Southern California. It is situated in a 
narrow valley, on a river named after the town, 
and is about twenty-two miles from the sea. 
Along the banks of this river, for miles, are 
vineyards and orange groves, which are the 
pride of the place. The town has grown 
wonderfully during the past few years, on 
account of its reputation as a health resort. 
Here and there may be seen one-story houses, 
built in the Spanish style, their flat roofs cov- 
ered with asphaltum, which abounds in the 
neighborhood. There is a rich tin mine at 
Temescal, about sixty miles distant, and the 

45 



46 



To California and Alaska. 



San Gabriel placer gold mines lie about twenty- 
miles to the northeast. 

The business portion of Los Angeles is 
quite handsome, and it is only in the Ameri- 
can portion of the town that the streets are 
laid out with that painful regularity common 
to most American cities. The original Span- 
ish quarter, not now, however, occupied by 




m 



Slk3 




many members of that nationality, is separated 
from the American-built part of the town by 
what is called the "plaza" adjoming a good- 
sized hotel. There are large mercantile houses, 
bank buildings, and pretentious-looking hotels 
that line the broad main street, the regularity 
of which is occasionally broken by the appear- 
ance of a small adobe house. 

The orange-trees at Los Angeles bear at 



Los Angeles. 47 

from seven to ten years of aoe • from the aire 
of twelve until they cease bearing they are 
said to average twenty dollars per tree per 
annum. At this rate, sixty trees to the acre, 
allowinor one thousand oranges as the average 
yield per tree, would give a gross result of twelve 
hundred dollars. Trees, in well-kept orchards, 
occasionally average fifteen hundred oranges 
each. It is said that an American settler has 
a grove in this place containing two thousand 
trees, which, when sixteen years old, averaged 
fifteen hundred oranges per tree, and has con- 
tinued to yield about the same each year since. 
Another man had a grove of sixteen hundred 
and fifty trees, some of which bore as many as 
four thousand oranges, the average being fif- 
teen hundred to the tree. 

Among other fruits that are raised in this 
section are apples, walnuts, pears, peaches, 
pomegranates, figs, nectarines, and olives. 
The income from English walnuts is estimated 
at from six hundred to one thousand dollars 
per acre ; from olives, at from two hundred to 
five hundred dollars ; the vineyards will pro- 
duce from ten to fifteen thousand pounds per 
acre. The olive is propagated by cuttings 
from ten to fifteen inches long, the slips being 



48 To California and Alaska. 

'^ 
put into the ground perpendicularly about six 
or eight inches apart. The trees bear in four 
or five years, but they do not produce a full 
crop until they are ten or twelve years old ; 
they continue to yield, however, until they are 
very old. Trees that are threescore and ten 
years old will bear one hundred gallons of 
olives ; the average yield is about twenty-five 
gallons per tree. If the olive is to be pickled, 
it is gathered before it is ripe ; we get the 
phrase " olive-green " from the looks of the 
fruit at this time, for when ripe it has a ma- 
roon color, and looks very much like a damson 
plum. When the unripe fruit is gathered it is 
placed in tight barrels or casks, through which 
water is allowed to percolate ; then it is put in 
strong brine, and is ready for use in a few 
days. The methods for manufacturing the oil 
are being improved upon every few years, and, 
even in their crude state, were an advance on 
the old Jewish plan, which seems to have been 
to tread out the oil with the feet. Seventy 
trees to the acre should yield about one thou- 
sand four hundred orallons of berries, and 
twenty gallons of berries yield about three 
gallons of oil, which is worth from four to five 
dollars per gallon, wholesale. 



Los Angeles. 4g 

California olives are said to be better than the 
foreign fruit, because they have more sunshine 
and a richer soil. An olive orchard will yield 
about nine hundred dollars gross per acre. 
There is one old olive-tree near Santa Barbara 
that is thirty years old, and that has yielded 
forty-eight dollars' worth of oil for several 
years in succession. A grove of old olive- 
trees, which was planted by Spanish mission- 
aries, seventy years ago, is still a source of 
income to its owner. 

It is said that the largest grape-vine in the 
world orrows about three miles from Santa 
Barbara, and a pleasant story is told about how 
it came to be planted. At the end of the last 
century a young Spanish lady started from 
Sonora on horseback to visit the country in 
question. Just before leaving, her lover broke 
from a neighboring grape-vine a branch, tell- 
ing her to use it for a riding-whip. When the 
young woman arrived at the end of her jour- 
ney, being of a more sensible turn of mind 
than most young people passing through the 
sentimental stage of life, and wishing to pre- 
serve the gift of her lover, she planted the slip 
in the ground. The vine, according to the 
story, appears to have been quite as thrifty as 



50 To California and Alaska. 

the far-famed been-stalk we heard about in our 
childhood, for it attained immense proportions, 
and astonished the natives. The trunk is four 
feet four inches in circumference. After 
reaching the heiglit of eight feet from the 
ground it sends out its branches, whicli are 
trained on horizontal trellises supported by 
posts ; so that the vine which started from a 
riding-whip is made to cover an area of five 
thousand square feet. Its annual yield for 
many years has been from ten to twelve thou- 
sand pounds of grapes. By a singular coinci- 
dence, a fig-tree grows near by, over which a 
portion of the vine extends, so that literally 
the owner of this vineyard could sit down under 
her own vine and fig-tree. The lady died when 
she was one hundred and thirteen years old. 
Much of the past beauty of this vine was 
destroyed when a portion of it was sent to 
the Centennial Exhibition a few years ago. 

It would have been pleasant, if we could 
have spared the time, to have remained longer 
in this section, one of the most interesting 
parts of the State. Southern California in- 
cludes seven counties : San Diego, San Ber- 
nardino, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Bar- 
bara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern. These 



Los Angeles. 51 

counties contain about fifty thousand square 
miles, or more than thirty milHon acres of land, 
and represent nearly one third of the territory 
of the whole State. San Diego, the farthest 
county to the south, is large enough to be a 
principality. Gold was found in the Isabella 
Mountains, forty-two miles northeast of the 
town of San Diego, in 1S70, but the ore 
did not turn out to be very rich. Twelve 
miles from the town, which is five hundred 
miles from San Francisco, and twenty-five 
from Los Angeles, a stone monument, erected 
by the government, indicates where the terri- 
tory of the United States ends and that of 
Mexico begins. 

San Bernardino County, the largest in the 
State, consists in a great measure of dry and 
desert-like valleys, and inaccessible mountains. 
As already stated, there was a Mormon settle- 
ment here in 1847, t>ut it was abandoned by 
those people in 1856, when they went to Salt 
Lake City. 

What Southern California can do for the 
industrious immigrant is illustrated in the 
settlement called Anaheim, located twenty 
miles south of Los Angeles. This place was 
founded by an association of Germans in 



52 To Calif 07'iiia and Alaska. 

1857 ; the land, consisting of eleven hundred 
acres, being divided into fifty lots of twenty 
acres each, having a space in the centre for 
local improvements. The party, at the out- 
set, consisted of fifty members, all Germans, 
of different occupations and persuasions. The 
land was a barren plain, and cost two dollars 
per acre. The lots were fenced in by planting 
willows, sycamores, and poplars, and one half 
of each lot was set out in grape-vines. For 
three years Indians and Mexicans were hired 
to do the work, the stockholders pursuing 
their regular vocations at home. An irri- 
eatinof canal seven miles lonof was excavated, 
together with subsidiary ditches, thus securing 
the thorough irrigfation of the whole tract. In 
i860 the assessments were all paid in, the lots 
were assigned in a drawincr, and the owners 
took possession and went to work. Ten years 
later a million grape-vines were growing, most 
of them bearing fruit, and there were ten 
thousand fruit-trees on the place. The popu- 
lation numbered four hundred, and the village 
contained a public school, a post-office, and a 
church. 




CHAPTER VIII. 



MONTEREY. 



We left Los Angeles at three o'clock on the 
afternoon of April i6th, making a pleasant run 
to Mojave, where we passed the regular passen- 
ger train on its way to San Francisco. It was 
a beautiful, clear moonlight night, and the 
scenery, coming down the mountain, was so 
maenificent, that we regretted we had not 
started three hours earlier. The weather was 
so warm that we could keep the car doors 
open, and sit in the observation-room in the 
rear of the train, all lights having been put out. 
The odor and freshness of the vegetation, as 
we passed through the valleys, was something 
exquisite, and long to be remembered. With 
the beauty of the night, the magnificent scenery, 
and the fragrant exhalations from the surround- 
ing country, the hour was very late before we 
retired. 

53 



54 To Califoriiia and Alaska. 

When we awoke in the morning, about half- 
past six o'clock, it was in the middle of one of 
the most beautiful and luxuriant valleys we 
had ever seen. We had read much about the 
beauties of California, but the richness, the 
luxuriance, the boundless wealth of the vegeta- 
tion which we saw in this section was something 
far beyond even our greatest expectations. To 
be sure, we saw the country at its best, for we 
arrived there in the height of the spring sea- 
son ; it would scarcely be possible, however, 
to imagine any natural scene of this kind which 
could be more beautiful. 

Leaving the main line at Lathrop we went 
to Niles, from there to San Jose. The famous 
Almaden Mines are located about fourteen 
miles from San Jose. The view from the 
mountain at this place is full of wildness and 
beauty. There are elevated peaks to be seen 
in every direction, and the green hillsides are 
marked by the tracks made by sheep and goats, 
which love to feed upon the sweet grass and 
wild oats. The mountain road is bordered by 
flowers of a crimson and glowing hue, the 
Mexican sage, the wild gooseberry and currant, 
the scrub-oak, and poison-oak — a little shrub 
dangerous to touch, — and a profusion of un- 



Monterey. 5 5 

known foliage, rich in coloring and luxuriant 
of growth. The miners and their families live 
in cabins and huts, of various sizes and degrees 
of comfort, built upon the broken surface of 
the mountain in a very irregular and pictu- 
resque manner. 

The ore from which quicksilver is procured 
is called cinnabar, and was worked by the 
Indians for the vermilion powder it contained, 
with which they used to paint their persons. 
A Mexican officer, in 1846, bribed the Indians 
to show him the location of the mines. A 
Mexican company was formed, named after 
the most valuable mines of mercury in the 
world — the Almaden Mines, in the province of 
La Mancha, Spain. The shaft of the mine 
runs hundreds of feet straight down into the 
earth, and the ore is brought up in iron-bound 
buckets. The men descend to their work, and 
come back again to the tunnel leading to the 
mouth of the engine-room, by means of the 
bucket. The tunnel is very dark, and its walls 
drip with damp. Among the miners are many 
Mexicans, who have considerable skill and ex- 
perience in this kind of work ; and there are 
also English, Welsh, Scotch, and Irish among 
the workers. 



56 To California and Alaska. 

After a delay of half an hour at San Jose, 
we started for Monterey, at which point we 
arrived about ten o'clock. The place charmed 
us at once, being- one of the finest we had ever 
seen. We had all been talkino; of the beauties 
of Southern California, of the fruits of Los 
Angeles, of the beach at Santa Monica, of the 
richness of the country around San Bernardino 
and Pasadena, but the charms of Monterey 
exceeded anything we had thus far seen. The 
walks and drives throuo-h the Park were 
delightful, and the place, as a health resort, 
undoubtedly has no equal in the country. 
We were very pleasantly located on the sec- 
ond story of the Hotel Del Monte, facing the 
south, our rooms all being sunny, and our 
comfort provided for in the most thoughtful 
manner by the hotel proprietor. We met here 
several invalids, who spoke most enthusiasti- 
cally of the health-restoring properties of the 
place. They told us how they had stopped at 
Thomasville, the Hot Springs, at Las Vegas, 
Pasadena, and other places, of how they had 
suffered there in one way or the other, and 
added that after they arrived in Monterey, 
and had been there a few days, they felt as if 
they were on the sure road to health. Every- 



Monterey. 57 

thing at this place tends to make one feel 
cheerful and hopeful. We noticed that the 
number of healthy people far exceeded the 
contingent of invalids, which is a very impor- 
tant factor in the cure of disease, and there 
were none of those depressing surroundings 
which are so often met with at the regular 
health resorts. 

The bathing pavilion connected with the 
hotel is certainly a wonder in its way. It is 







quite large, being about four hundred feet 
square, has a glass roof, and is filled with 
palms. In the centre are four large tanks. 
In the first one, used for women and children, 
the water is from three to four feet deep, and 
its temperature about eighty-five degrees. 
The next tank is about five feet deep, with a 
temperature of seventy-five degrees; the third 
about seven feet deep, with a temperature of 
seventy. The fourth tank is about eight feet 



58 To California and Alaska. 

deep, and contains the natural sea-water, 
which is pumped into it without being heated. 
The accommodations in the way of dressing- 
rooms, in both the male and female departments, 
are perfect in their way. It is certainly one 
of the most complete bathing establishments in 
the country. 

Those who have read Dana's " Two Years 
before the Mast " will remember that he speaks 
of visiting Monterey, at a time when its life 
must have been very picturesque. He speaks 
of the pride people took in tracing back their 
ancestry to the Spaniards, saying that the 
least drop of Spanish blood was held to be 
sufficient to raise them from the rank of slaves 
and entitle them to a suit of clothes, boots, 
hat, cloak, spurs, long knife, and all complete, 
however coarse and dirty they might be. The 
native women were excessively fond of dress, 
and nothing was more common than to see a 
woman living in a house of only two rooms, and 
the ground for a floor, dressed in spangled satin 
shoes, silk gown, high comb, and gilt, If not 
CTold, earrines and necklace. He was struck 
with the fineness of the voices and beauty of 
the intonations of both sexes. Common-look- 
ing ruffians, with slouched hat, blanket cloak. 



Monterey. 59 

dirty under-dress, and soiled leather leggings, 
appeared to speak pure and elegant Spanish. 
A common bullock driver, on horseback deliv- 
ering a message, seemed to speak like an 
ambassador at an audience ; in fact they 
seemed to be a people on whom a curse had 
fallen, which had stripped them of every thing 
but their pride, their manners, and their 
voices. 

The town was under Mexican rule at this 
time, its chief officer being a governor-general, 
appointed by the central government at Mex- 
ico ; then there was a commandant, and two 
or three alcaldes and corregidores, who were 
civil officers, elected by the inhabitants. Dana 
tells us that the houses at that time were of 
one story, built of clay made into large bricks, 
about a foot and a half square, three or four 
inches thick, and hardened in the sun. These 
were cemented together by mortar of the same 
material, the whole being of a common dirt 
color. The floors were generally of earth, the 
windows grated and without glass, and the 
doors opened directly into the common room. 
The men in Monterey always appeared to be 
on horse-back, and, there being no stables, the 
animals were allowed to run wild wherever 



6o To California and Alaska. 

they pleased, being branded, and having long 
lariats attached to their necks, dragging along 
behind them, and by which they could be 
easily taken. The men used to catch one in 
the morning, throw a saddle and bridle upon 
him, and use him for the day and let him go 
at night, catching another the next day. 

We remained nearly two weeks at Monterey, 
thoroughly enjoying our visit. While we were 
here, a num.ber of mechanics came from 
San Francisco, by order of Mr. Towne, and 
overhauled our train, changing some springs in 
the " Ellsmere," " Mariquita," and buffet-car, 
and putting on a new coupler in place of the 
one between the " Mariquita" and dining-car, 
which we were obliged to repair at Detroit. 
The train was also thoroughly cleaned, both 
inside and out, and carefully aired. 

Every day we all went in swimming, while 
the afternoons were occupied with drives along 
the picturesque beach, or up the valley. On 
Easter Sunday we attended church at a little 
town called New Monterey, about six miles 
distant. As the children all showed a marked 
improvement in health, particularly the little 
girl for whom our trip was delayed, our stay 
at Monterey was principally on their account. 



Monterey. 6 1 

Our evenings (which were generally spent 
sitting around a large open fire in the office 
of the hotel, which resembles very much the 
Profile House in the White Mountains, though 
of course the building at Monterey was a 
great deal larger and the ceilings very much 




''NTHt, Cj 



NE/ir\/nON rtRLf 



higher) were varied by exhibitions on the 
graphophone, which we brought from New 
York, many of the people at the hotel never 
having seen one. It was the opinion of our 
party that this hotel was, without exception, 
one of the cleanest and most neatly kept 



62 To California and Alaska. 

hotels to be found in the United States. On 
one afternoon we all went down to our train, 
after lunch, and gave a little reception to the 
friends we had made in the hotel, closing with an 
informal afternoon tea. Our cook had pre- 
pared a very palatable cold collation, and our 
crew took as much pride and pleasure in this 
social occurrence as we did ourselves. 

On Saturday, April 20th, one of those ex- 
quisite days that can only be found in this 
climate, we enjoyed a picnic given by two 
gentlemen of our party, in the pine grove on 
the ocean drive. Early on that morning, with 
the two stewards of our train, and servants 
from the hotel, they drove out to the grove 
and prepared the lunch. About twelve o'clock 
we took two large four-in-hands and drove out 
to meet them. We arrived about one o'clock 
and enjoyed a most delightful repast, after 
which one of the party took three or four 
photographic views of the scene. 

The neat appearance of the Hotel Del 
Monte, of which we have spoken, was largely 
due, according to the statement of its manager, 
to the use of Chinese servants, about sixteen 
of whom, divided into gangs of four, were con- 
stantly engaged in the work of cleaning. The 



Mo7itcrey. 



63 



head-gardener of the hotel grounds gave some 
very interesting information in regard to the 
manner in which they were laid out, Chinese 
laborers being employed to do the work. 

The Chinese, as laborers, are very impor- 
tant factors in the industrial civilization of the 
far West. Nearly every town west of the 




7-/it.'CaJri' fc A y-T^ic/t/cA. ?</ 



Rocky Mountains and Utah has its Chinese 
quarter. They swarm along the line of the 
Pacific Railroad, and are found In the old 
mining gulches of the mountains. In every 
village of California, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, 
and up In British Columbia they are met with, 



64 To California and Alaska. 

engaged in some kind of service, as cooks, 
table-waiters, nurses, gardeners, laundrymen, 
railroad builders, miners, agriculturists, serv- 
ants, and as assistants in manufacturing 
establishments. They began to come to the 
Pacific States in 1852, and though their 
capacity is very limited, being confined prin- 
cipally to the power of imitation, they learn 
quickly, and they are quiet, clean, and faith- 
ful, and do not go on " sprees," as some of 
their white neiehbors do. On account of their 
eenius for imitation they make o-ood cooks, and 
they are very successful in cultivating a small 
vegetable garden. The Pacific Railroad would 
have been delayed some years, and cost much 
more money, if it had not been for the mate- 
rial advantage gained by Chinese labor. 

One of our most enjoyable afternoon drives 
was with a four-in-hand, and covered a dis- 
tance of seventeen miles, part of the trip being 
through a delicious pine woods. This drive is 
one of the most celebrated around Monterey. 
While near the shore we passed rocks whose 
tops just appeared above the water, and were 
covered with seals. These seals, or Califor- 
nian sea-lions as they are sometimes called, 
have always been objects of interest to the 



Monterey. 65 

traveller in these parts. They crawl up from 
the water awkwardly and blunderingly, like 
babies just beginning to creep, and spread 
themselves out over the rocks, lying there as 
if in a comatose state. Now and then they 
raise their heads and utter a loud piercing 
bark, apparently without any purpose what- 
ever. When a party of two or three are on a 
rock, and they are disturbed by a new-comer, 
there is a languid sort of combat, and a great 
deal of barking and grumbling, when all of a 
sudden, seeming to tire of these useless pro- 
ceedings, they suddenly plunge into the sea. 
When from the water you approach a point 
occupied by a numerous herd, you hear their 
long plaintive bowlings, as if in distress ; but 
when near them the sounds become more 
varied and deafening. The old males roar so 
loudly as to drown the noise of the heaviest 
surf among the rocks and caverns, and the 
younger of both sexes croak hoarsely, or send 
forth sounds like the bleating of sheep or the 
barking of dogs. What is called a " rookery" 
of matured animals presents a ferocious and 
defiant appearance ; but usually at the approach 
of man they become alarmed, and if not opposed 
in their escape roll, tumble, and sometimes 



66 To California and Alaska. 

make fearful leaps from high precipitous rocks 
to hasten their flight. It is a singular fact 
that young seals, from their birth until they 
are six weeks old, are utterly unable to swim. 
They learn this, to them, very necessary ac- 
complishment, by going to the margin of the 
surf and floundering around in the pools, after 
which they make slow and clumsy progress in 
learning the knack of swimming. By repeated 
and persistent efforts the young seal gradually 
becomes familiar with the water, and ac- 
quainted with his own power over that ele- 
ment, which is to be his real home and his 
whole support. Once having learned the art, 
the young one fairly revels in his new happi- 
ness. 

Naturalists affirm that, notwithstanding the 
fact that the seal is a very clumsy animal, and 
with a very small head, compared to the size 
of his body, his intelligence Is greater than 
that of many land animals. Those who saw 
the seals in Barnum's exhibition two years ago 
will certainly be prepared to confirm this state- 
ment. The seals on the rocks near the Cliff 
House, San Francisco, become almost friendly 
with some of the residents of the hotel, cer- 
tainly as tame as ordinary domestic animals. 



Monterey. 



67 



But long before Barnum's seals were exhibited, 
there was a trained seal shown in London, 
who could bow to his visitors, and showed con- 
siderable intelligence In performing tricks. 




CHAPTER IX. 



THE MISSIONS. 



No record of a journey in the far western 
section of the United States would be com- 
plete without some account of the famous 
Spanish missions. In the State of California 
alone there are about fifty towns whose names 
bear the prefix of the Spanish word San, 
equivalent to saint. That there is a religious 
or, at all events, an ecclesiastical significance 
attached to these settlemxents, will be apparent 
at once. The story of these missions is ex- 
ceedingly interesting, and yet remains to be 
written with the fulness and accuracy the sub- 
ject deserves. A few years before his death, 
our poet Longfellow, in acknowledging the re- 
ceipt of a monograph on this subject of the 
missions, wrote to the giver, a resident of Cali- 
fornia : "A strange feeling of romance hovers 
about those old Spanish missions of California, 



63 



TJie Missions. 



69 



dItTJcult to define, and difficult to escape. They 
add much to the poetic atmosphere of the 
Pacific coast." 

The first permanent mission in CaHfornia 
was founded at Loretto, in 1697. From that 
point, Christianity gradually extended to the 
north, stations were established at different 







points, and efforts made to christianize the 
Indians. The missionaries were frequently 
attacked by the red men, and the progress 
that was made was accompanied by consider- 
able loss of life. Later on, the Jesuits came 
to this section, but met with a very poor re- 
ception, until, at last, every Jesuit in the State 
was carried off a prisoner. These Jesuits were 



yo To California and Alaska. 

replaced by Franciscan monks, who always 
travelled in parties of twelv^e, A party of 
them reached Loretto, which was then the 
centre of the mission work, in i 768. By order 
of the Mexican Government, three missions 
were founded in Upper California — one at San 
Carlos de Monterey in the north, another at 
San Diego in the south, and a third at San 
Bonaventura in the middle district. The ex- 
pedition started out in three divisions, one 
by land, and two by sea. The mission of 
San Diego was founded on the i6th of July, 
I 769, on the banks of the stream of that name. 
The native Indians were apparently friendly, 
and everything seemed to promise success. No 
sooner, however, had the missionaries erected 
two houses and a chapel, and were congratulating 
themselves on the prospective success of their 
undertaking, than the I ndians commenced depre- 
dations. The door of the priest's dwelling was 
only a mat, and before they could resist their 
assailants four or five of the inmates were 
wounded. Not long after this, however, ami- 
cable relations were established with the 
natives. This was the first of the series of 
missions which were established alono- the 
coast. The new settlement was placed under 



The Missions. Ji 

the tutelary guardianship of the patron saint 
of the Franciscans, San Diego, the Spanish for 
St. James, and his name was given to the mis- 
sion and the bay near which it was situated. 
In the year iSio San Diego was the largest 
mission in the State, though this was not by 
any means a gauge of worldly prosperity. 

The mission San Luis Rey was one of the 
largest establishments of this kind. It was 
founded in the wilderness on the banks of the 
San Luis, rieht in the heart of the hidian 
country. It was started in a thatched cottage, 
and became one of the greatest of the Cali- 
fornian missions. Its church of stone is ninety 
feet deep, and rises at one end in a beautiful 
tower and dome ; and from its facade there ex- 
tends a colonnade, not without architectural 
beauty, and nearly five hundred feet long, 
while in depth it is almost of equal dimensions. 
Father Peyri, its founder, was not only an 
architect but an able mission-director. It was 
not long before he had thirty-five hundred 
Indian converts, scattered in twenty ranches, 
and the whole place bore marks of industry, 
peace, and plenty. 

In the early days of these missions, some 
singular customs came into the Church. There 



72 To California and Alaska. 

were certain practices of ceremonial used by 
the Indians that were crradually introduced 
into the Church service, not with the approval 
of the priests, but tolerated by them. Indian 
Catholics, for instance, were in the habit of 
dancing before the shrine of a saint ; or rather, 
it should be said, the custom was pursued by 
the very young female converts. The practice 
had prevailed in Mexico, probably as a relic of 
paganism, where it was also tolerated, but not 
approved. There is an anecdote told by a 
Spanish writer about the attempt of an arch- 
bishop to prohibit this dancing as sacrilegious. 
This raised such a tumult among the people 
that the archbishop appealed to the Pope. 
The Pope ordered that the boys and girls 
should be brought to Rome in order that he 
mieht see them dance. After he had witnessed 
the performance, he laughingly ordered that 
they should be allowed to dance until the 
clothes they had on w re worn out. The young 
people took the hint, and shrewdly saw to it 
that their clothes were always renewed piece- 
meal, so as never to be really new, and thus, 
according to the Pope's decision, the dancing 
was allowed to go on without direct slight to 
the archbishop's scruples. 



TJie Missions. 'j'i^ 

Generally speaking, what may be called the 
mission era in California began in 1769 and 
lasted until 1823. Between those years 
twenty-one missions were established, extend- 
ing from San Diesfo in the south to San 
Rafael and Sonoma north of San Francisco. 
The mission of San Francisco was started in 
a rustic chapel in i 776, and the country around 
the bay was explored by the missionaries. 

Most of the missions were laid out in the 
form of a hollow square ; the enclosing wall of 
adobe bricks was twelve feet hicrh and three 
hundred feet in length, on each side. A rec- 
tangular building, eighty or ninety yards in 
front, and about as deep, composed the mis- 
sion. In one end was the church and parson- 
age. The interior was a large and beautiful 
court, adorned with trees and fountains, sur- 
rounded by galleries, on which opened the 
rooms of the missionaries, stewards, and 
travellers, the shops, schools, store-rooms, and 
granary. In fact, the mission was at once a 
reliofious station, a fortress, and a town. A 
population was gathered around this centre, 
sometimes by persuasion, and sometimes by a 
show of force, and the people were taught to 
construct habitations outside the walls, and in- 



74 To California and Alaska. 

structed In the various arts of peace and civil- 
* Ization. These small communities prospered 
for fifty years ; they were havens of rest 
during the peaceful and pastoral days of Cali- 
fornia. 

Connected with the mission was a buildinof 
called the monastery, where Indian girls were 
taught by native women spinning and weav- 
ing, and other duties peculiar to their sex. 
The boys were taught trades, and those who 
showed excellence were promoted to the rank 
of chiefs, thus giving a dignity to labor and an 
impulse to exertion. 

Each mission was directed by two friars, 
one of whom took charo-e of the religious in- 
struction, while the other was the superinten- 
dent of the outside labors. It is surprising, 
considering the small facilities at hand, how 
much these missionaries accomplished in agri- 
culture, architecture, and mechanics. They 
built mills, machines, bridges, roads, canals for 
irrigation, and succeeded, even in that early 
day, in transforming hostile and indolent sav- 
ages into industrious carpenters, masons, 
coopers, saddlers, shoemakers, weavers, stone- 
cutters, brick-makers, and lime-burners. A 
United States commissioner (Bartlett) has 



The il/issions. 75 

borne testimony to the good work done at 
that time. " Five thousand Indians," he says, 
"were, at one time, collected at the mission of 
San Gabriel. They are represented to have 
been sober and industrious, well clothed and 
fed ; and seem to have experienced as high a 
state of happiness as they are adapted by 
nature to receive. They began to learn some 
of the fundamental principles of civilized life. 
The institution of marriage began to be re- 
spected, and, blessed by the rites of religion, 
o-rew to be so much considered that deviations 
from its duties were somewhat infrequent 
occurrences." 

In 1834 the property of the missions was 
secularized, and they rapidly decayed. In 1 846 
they were taken by the United States, and in 
1847 they had a population of 450. At the 
mission of San Gabriel, at this time, excellent 
wine was being produced, and ships loaded 
with the products of the mission sailed regu- 
larly for Lima and San Bias. The missions 
collectively contained 30,650 Indians, 424,000 
head of cattle, 62,500 horses, 322,000 sheep, 
and raised annually 123,000 bushels of wheat 
and maize. This property, under the direc- 
tion of the government, was handed over to 



76 To California and Alaska. 

the authorities, who allotted some to each 
family. The missionaries were allowed rations 
for their support. The civil war, the discovery 
of gold, which drew a new population to the 
country, and the disappearance of the Indians 
to the mountains and forests, led to the disso- 
lution of the missions, as they were originally 
established. 

We resume the story of our journey. On 
the evening of April 2 2d, an agent of the 
Yosemite staee line came from San Francisco 
to Monterey, for the purpose of making final 
arrangements for our trip to the far-famed 
valley. It was planned that we should have 
special stages all the way in and out, with the 
probability of making the return journey from 
the Yosemite in one day. This trip has never 
before been made in a shorter time. The fol- 
lowing morning, the 23d, we took our bath a 
little earlier than usual, and gathered our 
things together preparatory to leaving on the 
two-o'clock train. 

We came as far as San Jose on the regular 
train. A special engine met us at this place 
and took the car " Ellsmere" through to Oak- 
land. The rest of our train had been left at 
Monterey, with all the crew, except George de 



The Missions. jy 

Barr, our chief steward, Armstrong, and our 
cook, Scotty, 

We arrived at Oakland about six o'clock. 
This is the principal town on the eastern shore 
of San Francisco Bay, almost directly opposite 
the " Golden City" itself. The city owes its 
name to its mag-nificent proves of live oaks in 
which it was originally built, but it has now 
grown far beyond their limits. These trees 
are not merely ornamental, but subserve a 
useful purpose for parts of the town, in screen- 
inof them from the fierce winds which come 
through the gap of the Golden Gate in the 
summer months, and to the force of which 
Oakland is especially exposed. The Univer- 
sity of California is located here, and consists 
of various colleges devoted to arts, letters, and 
professional life. The drives around the city 
are very beautiful, quite equal to those of San 
Francisco, and good roads penetrate the sur- 
rounding country in every direction. At Oak- 
land Point, two miles from the city, there is an 
immense iron pier over the bay to the ferry- 
boat, which conveys passengers and freight to 
the city of San Francisco. This wonderful 
pier, or rather wharf, is on the east side of 
San Francisco, and is eleven thousand feet 



78 To Californui and Alaska. 

long, running out to a depth of twenty-four 
feet at low tide, and of thirty-one feet at high 
tide. Upon its last thousand feet it has twelve 
railroad tracks, a wide carriage-way, a passen- 
ger depot and railroad offices, warehouses, and 
outside storage for forty thousand tons of 
grain or other merchandise, and three large 
docks, one of which affords ample space for five 
of the largest steamers or clippers afloat. The 
piles used, where the water deepens, are sixty- 
five feet long, and are forty-two to fifty-four 
inches in circumference. The main wharf is 
eight hundred feet wide at the extreme or 
western end, and on it are pens for five hun- 
dred cattle, two immense warehouses, and a 
large passenger depot. 

At Oakland we were met by Mr. Curtis, Mr. 
Towne's assistant general manager, who took 
us over to San Francisco, where we all had din- 
ner at the Cafe Riche. After dinner we walked 
back to the boat, and took the 9.15 train for 
the south. As our train was leaving the 
depot, an officer on the staff of General Miles, 
commanding the Department of the Pacific, 
presented us with the General's card, saying 
that he hoped we would notify him of our 
return to the city, in order that he might 



The Missions. 79 

render some service to make our stay in San 
Francisco agreeable. 

We reached Berenda about four o'clock on 
the morning of April 24th, then took a branch 
line to Raymond, arriving there about three 
hours afterwards. After breakfast we took a 
four-horse stage and started for Wawona, which 
is sometimes called Clark's. We had dinner 
at a half-way station called Grant's. The drive 
was exceedingly interesting from the manner 
in which the driver managed his horses, and 
also on account of the kind of horses used for 
this work. We changed horses seven times 
between Raymond and Wawona, each change 
consisting of four horses. It was surprising 
to see what wiry beasts they were, and what 
an immense amount of work they could accom- 
plish. Our shortest drive between the changes 
was six miles. On this we had four half-wild, 
wiry, Nevada ponies, roans, and they literally 
ran all the distance. Their speed was so great 
that we were very much concerned lest they 
should run away entirely ; but we were fortu- 
nate in having an expert driver to go over 
the route with us. The manner in which the 
stage would whirl around corners and dash 
down hills was quite appalling, and made the 



8o 



To California and Alaska. 



remembrance of past experiences in the Cats- 
kills and the White Mountains seem tame, 
almost uninteresting. But all this rapid driv- 
ing was done with good judgment. The brakes 
were tightly applied to the wheels when occa- 
sion required, the effect being to bind the run- 
ning-gear and the body of the vehicle together, 
thus preventing any swaying motion and any 
possibility of upsetting. When night came we 
all felt fatigued, and, after a short walk, retired 
early, in order to be prepared for a timely start 
on the following morning. 





CHAPTER X. 



THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 



On the morning of the 25th of April we rose 
at five o'clock, and, after a hurried breakfast, 
started, with a light wagon and four horses, to 
see the Big Trees. Two members of our party, 
Mr. and Mrs. Purdy, did not accompany us on 
this trip, as they had visited the scene about 
three years ago. 

The Big Trees are certainly one of the most 
remarkable features of California scenery. No 
other one of the natural curiosities of the Pa- 
cific States has become so widely known as 
these trees. They were discovered in 1852, 
and at once became famous over the world, 
more particularly on account of the exagger- 
ated statements in reofard to their size and aee. 
There are several groves of them, such as the 
Calaveras, the Mariposa, the South Grove, the 
Frezno Grove, and probably many others not 

81 



82 To Calijornia and Alaska. 

yet discovered. Although the name of " I. 
M. Wooster, 1850," is carved on one of these 
trees, it was not till 1852 that a hunter, by the 
name of Dowd, having; wounded a bear, while 
pursuino- his calling in these parts, really dis- 
covered them. He was following up the 
wounded animal, when he came to a group of 
these monsters of the forest. In his wonder 
at the sight he forgot all about pursuing the 
bear, and quickly returned to his camp, where 
he told his companions what he had seen. His 
story was received with shouts of laughter and 
derision. Wishing to prove the truthfulness 
of his tale, a few days afterwards he told his 
companions that he had shot a big grizzly bear 
up in the mountains, and requested their help 
to get the beast. The party started off, Dowd 
leading the way over the path he had followed 
a few days before, until, finally, he brought 
them face to face with the Big Trees ; they 
saw at once that, though he had deceived them 
about the bear, he had not been guilty of ex- 
aggeration in regard to the trees. So it ap- 
pears that, though Wooster, whose identity 
never seems to have been established, may have 
first discovered them, Dowd, the hunter, was 
the first to make them known to the world. 



The Yoseviitc Italic v. 83 

These trees have been seen by visitors from 
all parts of the world, and have been viewed 
with feelings of awe and wonder. The Cala- 
veras Grove is five miles long, and, by some 
travellers, is considered the most desirable to 
visit ; but we think the majority of sight-seers 
would prefer the Mariposa Grove, as the Cala- 
veras has lost much of its primitive condition, 
— as one man says, " has been converted into 







something like a tea-garden," — while the for- 
mer remains in its original state. The Mari- 
posa Grove is also regarded as being the most 



84 To California and Alaska. 

attractive, because here the trees are greater 
in diameter, and much more numerous. There 
are four hundred and twenty-seven of them 
in the grove, varying in size from twenty to 
thirty-four feet in diameter, and from two hun- 
dred and seventy-live to three hundred and 
twenty-five feet in height. Botanically speak- 
ing, they are of the Sequoia gigantea species. 
There seems to be a beh of them running 
along the slopes of the Sierras, about four or 
live thousand feet above the sea level, and as 
far south as Visalia. They are so plentiful 
near that place that they are sawed up and 
used for lumber. In the same neighborhood, 
the Indians report a tree, far in the forest, 
which is said to surpass in grandeur any tree 
of the kind that has ever been seen. So far, 
no white man has ever beheld it. The leaf of 
the Sequoia gigantea is very much like that of 
the Arbor vitcu ; the bark is soft and very 
spongy, and of a light-brown color. On all 
the largest trees it measures from twenty to 
tliirty-two inches in thickness. This species 
grows on mountain slopes, and is watered by 
the springs that come down the hill-sides, and 
which are filled with particles of fertilizing 
rocks and the decayed vegetation of centuries. 



The Yoscniitc J \illey 



85 



For six months in the year it is warmed by a 
tropical sun and refreshed by the balmy air of 
the Pacific. In winter, its roots have a warm 
covering of snow ; and it is said, of some of 
these trees at least, that the ground never 
freezes beneath them. In fact, they have got 




nothing to do but to grow ; and it is interest- 
ing to note that this species is not wearing 
out, for youne trees can be seen erowino^ 
vigorously. We say young trees, meaning 
about four hundred years old, because the 
monsters themselves are over two thousand 



86 To California and Alaska. 

years old. One of the largest of these is the 
Grizzly Giant. It is one hundred and seven 
feet in circumference, and in the thickest place 
thirty-four feet in diameter. The first branch 
is nearly two hundred feet from the g-round, 
and is eight feet in diameter. The writer took 
a number of photographs of these trees, and 
several views in the immediate neicfhborhood. 
From these the illustrations which appear in 
this book were made. Most of the large trees 
have special names attached to them. Many 
are named after the States ; others are named 
after celebrated men, such as Longfellow, 
Lincoln, Grant, Ferdinand de Lesseps, George 
Washinorton, Daniel Webster, W. H. Seward, 
and Andrew Johnson. It seems a little in- 
congruous that the names of these modern 
celebrities should be attached to trees whose 
chief claim to recocrnition, aside from their 
size, is their great age, — trees that existed be- 
fore Titus besieged Jerusalem, which were the 
contemporaries of an Attila, or a Constantine, 
and which bid fair to live when the names 
they bear shall have faded into oblivion. In- 
congruous though it may be, however, it is 
gratifying that the names they bear are those 
of Americans. The pertinence of this remark 



The Yoseniiie Valley. 



87 



will appear, when I mention that the first 
British botanist who saw the trees, had the 
monumental assurance to christen them Wel- 
lingionia, although years before they had 
received the name of Washingtonia. British 
botanists still call the trees Wellingtonia, and 
will probably continue to do so for their own 
satisfaction. 

Probably a quarter of the trees in all the 
groves are over twenty-five feet in diameter ; 
the stump of one of them, thirty-two feet in 
diameter, has a house built over it. Five men 




worked twenty-five days with pump-augers 
before they could cut it down. The stump is 
cut five feet from the ground, and a party of 



88 To California and Alaska. 

thirty-two have danced on it at once, not 
counting the musicians and spectators, who 
filled up part of the space. Twenty feet in 
length of this log would make forty-nine 
thousand feet of boards, which would be worth 
several thousand dollars. 

One of these trees has been tunnelled, and 
a road built through it, so that coaches can 
drive inside. When standino- underneath it 
the leaders' heads are just outside the arch of 
the tree at one end, while the end of the coach 
is just outside the arch at the other. This, 
perhaps, will give a better idea of the enor- 
mous diameter of these trees than any arith- 
metical statements. The width of the open- 
ing through this tree is sufficient to allow two 
stages to pass each other inside the tree. The 
Faithful Couple is about twenty-eight feet in 
diameter, reaches seventy feet out of the 
ground, and forms into two trees on one stem ; 
the faithful couple of trees having, in reality, 
but one life, a kind of Siamese-twins existence, 
and being but one. The only tree which 
approaches the Sequoia in size and grandeur 
is the Ezicalyplus of Australia, which is from 
eighty to ninety feet in circumference. 

After we had gratified our curiosity with 



TJie YoseTnite Valley, 



89 



regard to the Big Trees, we returned to Wa- 
wona, where we took another stage and a fresh 
set of horses and started at once for the 
valley. On this drive we had three changes 
of horses, and the scenery was simply grand. 
The ride was rather a rough one, but the 
views to be obtained were well worth the cost 



"M v>'^^ 




of the journey. We alighted from our coach 
at the world-renowned Inspiration Point, 
which is a little green plateau, about twenty 
feet square, on the very verge of the south- 
west wall of the valley. The view from this 
situation, once seen, can never be forgotten. 
It embraces what mis'ht be called the whole 



90 To California and Alaska. 

gamut of the natural and magnificent ; you see 
mountains, rock, perpendicular ledge, towering 
spires thousands of feet high, snow-clad 
mountains, bald peaks peering into the blue 
vault of heaven, barren domes of gray granite, 
water-falls, cascades, and brooks, green fields, 
and winding streams, — the whole Yosemite is 
here seen at one glance. There was a shelv- 
ing rock, upon which we were instructed to 
creep cautiously to the edge. It is no wonder 
that the first glance makes some weak persons 
giddy, especially wdien they are exhausted by 
the long ride. The beauty of the scene is 
indescribable in words ; the experience might 
be compared to a person looking over the 
edee of a g-rand cvclorama, executed on a 
magnificent scale, containino- all manner of 
natural effects, and absolutely perfect in artistic 
execution. 

The party were particularly impressed with 
El Capitan, which is, indeed, the most promi- 
nent attraction to the eve when coming^ down 
the mountain-side into the valley. This 
mountain, called, in English, the Great Chief 
of the Valley, although not so high, by several 
thousand feet, as some of its giant neighbors, 
is remarkable on account of its isolation, its 



The Yosemitc Willey. 91 

breadth, its perpendicular sides, its bold, de- 
fiant shape, and its prominence as it stands 
out like a great rock promontory. It is three 
thousand three hundred feet in height, and 
the beholder stands in mute astonishment as 
he views its massive proportions. 

The Yosemite Valley was discovered in the 
spring of 1851, by a party under the command 
of Major James Savage, who, at the time, was 
pursuing a number of predatory Indians, who 
made it their stronghold, considering it in- 
accessible to the whites. The name Yosemite 
was oiven to it in the belief that it was the 
Indian term for grizzly bear. The valley 
proper can hardly be called a valley ; it is in 
reality a rift in the earth's surface. It may be 
described as a chasm, varying in width from 
one mile to ninety feet, with granite walls 
from one thousand to four thousand feet high. 
Masses of detached rock stand, in their soli- 
tude, like giant obelisks ; others have been 
split from top to bottom as though by a 
thunder-bolt. Throucrh the windinors of the 
valley flows a river, cold as ice and clear as 
crystal, its source apparently being from the 
clouds above. There is luxuriant vegetation, 
and the extreme of barrenness, the softest 



92 To Califoniia and Alaska. 

carpet-moss and grassy lawns, the great ferns 
and wild roses, alternating with huge scattered 
rocks, where not even the lichen will cling. 
The traveller will note how the sunbeams 
brighten the summits of the giant mountains ; 
how the sunshine creeps down the sides of the 
cold walls, filling the valley with floods of 
golden glory, made brighter by the contrast 
of patches of deep shade, for there are some 
spots here which the sun never reaches — cold, 
and damp, and always dripping; and there are 
gorges with arms wide-open, as if forever to 
court the orb of day. 

Briefly stated, the chief features of the val- 
ley are its perpendicular walls, their great 
height as compared with the width of the val- 
ley, and the small amount of debris formed at 
the base of these gigantic mountains of rock. 
The general opinion is that these great moun- 
tains of rock have been gradually rent in twain 
from dome to base by some volcanic action 
and the chasm thus made widened by further 
volcanic action to its present width. The 
valley is one vast flower-garden ; plants, 
shrubs, and flowers of every hue cover the 
ground like a carpet ; the eye is dazzled by the 
brilliancy of the color, and the air is heavy 



The Yosemite J^alley. 



93 



with the fragrance of a million blossoms. 
There are trees of five and six hundred years' 




G^c c^T~f 






growth, of immense height, and yet in com- 
parison with the vast perpendicular clefts of 
rock they look like daisies beside a sycamore 



94 To California and Alaska. 

of the forest. One interesting writer on the 
subject of the Yosemite advances the theory 
that it is possible that the spot may have been 
the Eden of Scripture. 

On the morning of the 26th we all, with the 
exception of Dr. McLane, left the hotel on 
horseback for the trail to the top of Glacier 
Point. This is considered one ot the most 
dangerous trails in the valley. At two or three 
places half-way up the mountain the wall on 
one side was actually perpendicular, and the 
path, not over two feet wide, was held up by a 
few small stones, any one of which if loosened 
would roll thousands of feet below. It was a 
matter of much concern to us that one of the 
ladies became very much frightened at this 
stage of the journey. If she could hold on to 
her horse, and retain her senses, we knew that 
all would be well, because the intelligent ani- 
mal would not go over the cliff. It was utterly 
impossible for her escort to be of any assist- 
ance, as, at this point, there was scarcely suf- 
ficient space for a rider to stand alongside his 
horse. Before coming to the dangerous place 
on the homeward journey, the lady dismounted 
and walked with her companion nearly to the 
foot of the mountain. California mustangs are 



The Yosemite Valley. 95 

the horses used in this kind of service. They 
feed on oat-straw or mountain pasture, and can 
withstand very hard usage. The Spanish sad- 
dle is used, with high peaks before and behind ; 
the stirrups are covered with huge leathers 
which fall five or six inches below the feet, and 
the legs are protected by broad leathern shields. 
On the afternoon of the day we made our 
trip to Glacier Point some of the party made 
a trip to Nevada Falls. Dr. McLane and the 
writer, procured a wagon and drove to the 
Yosemite Falls, and other points of interest 
in the valley. The Yosemite Valley is situated 
on the Merced River, in the southern portion 
of the county of Mariposa, one hundred and 
forty miles a little southeast from San Fran- 
cisco. At times this river flows alone in a 
grave, respectable sort of fashion, then leaps 
over a precipice a hundred feet high, or more, 
then tumbles and foams its way through a de- 
vious course around massive rocks as large as 
a house. Sometimes it hops, skips, and jumps 
over its rocky bed apparently in playful mood ; 
sometimes its noise is almost deafening, some- 
times soft and low and musical to the ear. It 
flows on the western slope of the Sierra Ne- 
vada, midway between its eastern and western 



g6 To California and Alaska. 

base, and in the centre of the State, measuring 
north and south. It is a narrow stream en- 
closed in frowning granite walls, rising with 
almost unbroken and perpendicular faces to 
the dizzy height of from three to six thousand 
feet above the green and quiet valley beneath. 
During the rainy season, and when the snows 
melt, streams are formed on the precipices, 
shaping themselves into cataracts of beauty 
and magnificence surpassing any thing known 
in mountain scenery. Looking up the valley, 
from the foot of the Mariposa trail. El Capi- 
tan is seen on the left, and on the right, the 
Cathedral Rocks and a beautiful fall called the 
Bridal Veil, which jumps, in sportive glee, a 
distance of nearly one thousand feet into the 
valley. Long before the water reaches its 
rocky bed it is transformed into mist, and when 
the wind blows gently it is wafted hither and 
thither, sometimes forming itself into a thin 
veil, sometimes closing as if to hide its purity. 
The Cathedral Rocks on the east are nearly 
three thousand feet in height, and look like 
isolated church spires of solid granite, with 
rocky sides gently sloping from the base to 
the pinnacle, with no signs of vegetation on 
their rugged sides. As yet, no human foot 




NEVADA FALLS. 



The Yosemite J^alley. 97 

has stood on that barren eminence. The Vir- 
gin's Tears Creek, directly opposite the Bridal 
Veil, is in a deep recess of the rocks near the 
lower corner of El Capitan. Farther up the 
valley is the group of rocks known as the 
Three Brothers, or " Mountains Playing Leap- 
frog." Looked at from below, the peculiar 
shape of these three rocks give them the ap- 
pearance, very much, of three frogs in the act 
of going through the performance indicated. 
The Yosemite Falls — three in one — are farther 
up the valley. The water dashes with great 
force over the rocks and plunges into a vast 
basin of rock beneath. Gatherincr strength, it 
again leaps forth, and falling between the North 
Dome and the Three Brothers, takes its final 
plunge of six hundred feet into the valley. 
The roar of the falls is heard at all times, but 
in the quiet and darkness of the night it seems 
as if the very earth were being rent asunder. 
There are no falls in the world that equal these 
in size and magnificence. Niagara is two hun- 
dred feet hiofh, but here is a fall more than ten 
times as high, and the renowned Staubbach of 
Switzerland is not to be compared with it. At 
the foot of one of the mountains is Mirror 
Lake, a pure, clear, cold body of water which 



98 To California and Alaska. 

reflects, as in a looking-glass, the towering bat- 
tlements of rock above. 

To reach the Vernal and Nevada Falls the 
traveller rides through a valley carpeted with 
bright-colored, fragrant flowers, and is obliged 
to cross the river Merced. At the base of the 
Sentinel Dome is the Vernal Fall or Cataract 
of Diamonds. The falling cloud of white foam 
leaps over its rocky bed into a fearful declivity, 
making a tumultuous noise to which the roar 
of Niagara is as the sigh of the south wind. 
For half a mile below the falls the stream looks 
like one mass of foam. The Nevada Fall is 
twice the height of the Vernal, and is the grand- 
est of all the falls in the valley. There is an 
obstruction on the north side of the fall, which 
causes a division of a considerable volume of 
water, and makes it tumble by itself in mad 
cascades, that come leaping and dancing down 
the rocks. Visitors find no difficulty in going 
up to the very foot of the fall, where they can 
gaze at its magnificent power, and listen to its 
stupendous roar, until they are fairly drenched 
with the spray. 

The hotel at which we stopped at this point 
in our journey, although well-built and com- 
fortable in some respects, is as badly kept as 



Yoscinitc J \illcy. 99 

any place of the kind we had ever seen. This 
is very unfortunate, because if it were properly 
managed the natural surroundings are such 
that visitors would be tempted to remain 
several days in the locality, instead of getting 
through their sight-seeing, and leaving the 
place as quickly as possible. When travellers 
first began to come to this section, the 
" hotels," as they were grandiloquently called, 
were nothing more than inns, where the ac- 
commodations were of the rudest possible 
description. 

We left the valley at half-past six on the 
morning of April 27th. The weather was 
cold, but bright. As we came past Inspiration 
Point we gave one last look at the grand 
scenery which had been to us such a source of 
pleasure for two days. We drove out the 
entire distance of sixty-four miles, and arrived 
at Raymond about five o'clock in the after- 
noon. Through the courtesy of the stage 
company at Wawona, the writer of the party 
secured a buck-board wagon, and, with his 
wife, drove all the way to Raymond, having 
one changre of horses. We were all sflad to 
get back to our car; by this time it seemed to 
us, in a certain sense, like a permanent resi- 



lOO To California and Alaska. 

dence, and so far as the cuisine was concerned, 
in looking back upon our hotel experiences in 
the valley, there was certainly " no place like 
home," for the table at the hotels did not be- 
gin to compare with our own. 

At half-past six o'clock the train left for 
Berenda. It was composed of a dozen freight 
cars, two Pullman sleepers, our car, and a 
coach. Half-way to Berenda, at one of the 
local stations, through the mistake of one of 
the switch-tenders, a switch was left open. 
Fortunately, the engineer was not running 
over twenty miles an hour at the time, and 
was able to prevent a serious accident by the 
immediate use of the air-brakes. We were all 
at dinner when the accident happened, and 
when the train brought up with a tremendous 
jerk, it almost upset everything on the table. 
On going out it was discovered that the engine 
had run on a siding directly into a lot of 
freiofht cars, sending some of them on to the 
main track ahead, knocking others off their 
trucks, and altogether making a pretty bad 
wreck. It took us over half an hour to clear 
the main line of debris, before our journey 
could be resumed. 

While driving out from the valley, we had 



Yosem tie J alley. 



lOI 



very cool and comfortable weather. On our 
arrival at Raymond we were surprised to 
learn that the people in that vicinity had been 
suffering from the heat. The evidence of the 
torrid state of the atmosphere was also to be 
seen on our car, the paint upon which had 
peeled off in many places, while the inside sash 
on the sunny side had been blistered by the 
heat, taking the varnish completely off. 




While going into, and coming out of the 
valley, we saw large quantities of quail, and 
our driver informed us that during the season 
the hunting is very good. We also passed a 



I02 To California and Alaska. 

flume, of wliich an illustration is given here- 
with. This flume is built of plank and carries 
logs and boards to a distance of seventy miles. 
It is about two feet high, two feet wide, and 
eight inches deep, with flaring sides, and the 
water runs through it at quite a rapid rate. 
When it crosses ravines or winds around the 
mountain-side, it is supported on trestle-work 
The lumber is sawed some distance up in the 
mountains, bound together in bundles of seven 
or eight planks, then let into the flume, and 
floated down stream to the railroad station. 
The part of the flume shown in the picture 
carries lumber down to Madera, a station on 
the Southern Pacific Railroad, one hundred 
and eighty-five miles from San Francisco. 




CHAPTER XI. 

SAN FRANCISCO. 

Early on the morning of April 28th we 
left Berenda on the express, and arrived at 
Oakland about nine o'clock. We found an 
engine waiting for us, which immediately took 
our car and ran us special to Monterey, where 
we arrived about three in the afternoon. The 
children were all well, and overjoyed to see us, 
and listened with unfeigned pleasure to the 
stories we had to tell them of the wonders we 
had seen. Our return was made pleasanter 
from the fact that we found three mail-bags 
awaiting us, and it took us several hours to 
reply to the generous batch of correspondence 
we found on our hands. 

On the following morning, Monday, we re- 
sumed our old habit and started immediately 
for the swimming-bath. In the afternoon, 
the writer engaged a buggy, and drove out to 

103 



I04 To California and Alaska. 

a ranch twenty-eight miles from Monterey, 
Cahfornia ranches often consist of thousands 
of acres, and are conducted on a very large 
scale. The word " ranch " has come down 
from the early Spanish occupancy, and is 
found, in some form or other, all over the 
State ; farm-hands are called " ranchmen," and 
a man is " ranching " horses when he takes 
them to pasture. We will take one ranch of 
sixteen thousand acres as a specimen. It ex- 
tends about four miles along a river, and there 
is not a field through which there does not run 
a living stream : these streams come down 
from the mountains. A flouring mill of great 
capacity is on one part of the ranch, and its 
wheels are kept running by the water from 
one of these streams. Between three and four 
thousand acres are sown with wheat and bar- 
ley, and, by aid of machinery, twelve hundred 
bushels of wheat can be made ready for the 
mill in one day. The whole process of thresh- 
ing, cleaning, etc., is gone through with in the 
field, and the grain at once put into sacks. 
Fifty horses or mules and about twenty men 
are employed from November until March, in 
making the ground ready, using the latest and 
most approved agricultural machinery. The 



San Francisco. 105 

laborers live on the place in a house at a little 
distance from that of their employer. Wild 
oats grow of their own accord, and six hundred 
head of cattle live on parts of the ranch not 
under cultivation. Then there are twelve 
hundred hogs, and fourteen thousand sheep, 
the latter having a shepherd for each two 
thousand of their number. 

We bade adieu to Monterey on the morn- 
ing of the 1st of May, taking our special train. 
At Menlo Park we were met by the boys — 
Louis, Frank, and George Bird — who had 
remained at San F"rancisco in order to see the 
town, under the guidance of the Pinkerton 
detective, who, being an old Californian, was 
specially qualified to act as a guide. Louis 
brought some beautiful roses that he had pro- 
cured for us in San Francisco, and a number 
of flowers of the same species were also 
handed us by a resident of Menlo Park, after 
our arrival. 

After lunch we took carriages and rode out 
to Governor Stanford's stock farm. Through 
some misunderstanding, every one connected 
with the place, including Mr. Marvin, the 
manager, was absent. But after a little trou- 
ble we succeeded in o-ettino- a groom to show 



io6 To Calif oriiia arid Alaska. 

us some of the horses. We saw " Electioneer," 
and some of the stalHons, together with the 
celebrated yearling-, ''Electric Bells," owned 
by Miller and Sibley, and for which they paid 
in December, 1888, thirteen thousand five 
hundred dollars. He is a beauty, and very 
well-developed, and the groom assured us that 
his racing future was full of promise. 

After visiting the stables, we drove over to 
the University buildings which Governor 
Stanford is erecting to the memory of his son. 
The main building is after the Spanish style 
of architecture, only one story high, and with 
tiled roof. It is in the form of a square, with 
a continuous arcade or colonnade runninp^ 
around it inside. The interior square is con- 
nected with the outside by four large arches 
under each side of the building. These struc- 
tures occupy about four acres of ground, and 
when we were there a large body of men were 
at work on the premises, while others were 
engaged in grading and preparing the sur- 
rounding grounds. 

Menlo Park is beautifully situated at the 
foot of a mountain, the last of the sea-coast 
range. It is thickly wooded, and looked more 
like a park than any place of the kind we had 



San Francisco. 107 

ever seen. The roads are kept in superb con- 
dition, and the profusion of flowers we beheld 
was somethinor wonderful. We drove through 
Governor Stanford's property, and saw his 
house and grounds ; also the large vineyard 
connected with it. Near his place, on the site 
where he intended to build a house, Governor 
Stanford has erected a mausoleum to the 
memory of his son. After our drive we re- 
turned to the car and left at once for San 
Francisco. Subsequently we had the pleasure 
of meeting the Governor ; also Mr. C. P. 
Huntington, who was about starting for New 
York. The Governor talked freely about 
horse-raising, and one could see that he was 
thoroughly enthusiastic on the subject. 

You cannot walk about the City of the 
Golden Gate without thinkincr of its wonder- 
ful growth and recalling its early history. 
Only forty years ago men were living on this 
very spot, for the most part in tents and 
shanties. Some adventurers formed part of 
the population, but they were soon exter- 
minated. Although there was an utter ab- 
sence of the refining influence of women, good 
women were held in profound respect. Life 
and property were secure though locks and 



io8 To California and Alaska. 

bars were iinknowai, and men trusted their 
money to people who a few hours before had 
been strangers to them. There was not a 
school, or a Protestant church, but men read 
their Bibles in their homes. The discovery 
of gold changed this condition of affairs, and 
brought to the locality the scum of the whole 
world — convicts from Australia ; the va^a- 
bonds of large European cities ; the toughs 
from New York, and " plug-uglies " from 
Philadelphia ; desperadoes from Central and 
South America ; outcasts from the South Sea 
Islands, and pariahs from all over the world. 
All kinds of crimes were common, and no 
man's life or property was safe. Then came 
the " Vigilance Committee," and the reign of 
swift justice, and finally San Francisco became 
one of the most quiet, law-abiding, well- 
governed cities in the world. San Francisco 
Is famed for its restaurants. It is said they 
number about four hundred, and that forty 
thousand people daily take their meals at 
them. They are of all grades and prices — 
from the " Poodle Dog," where a dinner costs 
from two and a half to twenty dollars, down 
to the Miner's Restaurant, where it costs only 
forty cents. There are also a large number 



Sail Francisco. 109 

of French, German, and Italian restaurants 
where one may get a good breakfast for half 
a dollar, a lunch for twenty-five cents, and a 
dinner, a la carte, including claret, for seventy- 
five cents. A tenderloin steak (and the beef 
is said to be of an excellent quality), potatoes, 
bread and butter, and a cup of coffee, will cost 
fifty cents ; a lamb chop, potatoes, bread and 
butter, and coffee, twenty-five cents ; salmon, 
bread and butter, and coffee, twenty-five cents ; 
an omelet, or eggs boiled, fried, or scrambled, 
with coffee, and bread and butter, thirty-five 
cents, A grade lower down, but in places 
which seem to be clean and respectable, one 
gets three dishes for twenty-five cents, and 
may obtain quite a decent meal for from 
twenty to thirty cents. The European habit 
of livino- in lodofines and takingf meals at res- 
taurants is very much in vogue in San Fran- 
cisco. Among the hotels is one which may 
be called a California peculiarity. It is what 
would be called a second- or third-class hotel, 
but serves excellent meals and lodgings at fifty 
cents each ; this place grew popular under the 
patronage of the miners, who, when they come 
into town from their distant camps and cabins, 
insist on having good fare though they are 



no To California and Alaska. 

rather indifferent to the manner in which it is 
furnished. This hotel has a special office for 
receiving clothes to be washed and mended, a 
well-chosen popular library with five thousand 
volumes, full files of newspapers and maga- 
zines, an extensive and valuable cabinet of 
minerals, and a beautiful collection of stuffed 
birds, all for the accommodation and enter- 
tainment of its oruests. Its readine-room is 
generally well-filled with plain, rough-looking 
men, each with book or newspaper in hand. 
The rule of the establishment is for every 
guest to buy a supply of tickets for meals and 
lodgings on his arrival, at the uniform rate of 
fifty cents each, and the proprietor redeems, 
with cash, what have not been used up when 
the customer leaves. 

One feature of San Francisco life is its bar- 
rooms ; many of which are fitted up in a style 
of almost Oriental grandeur. They are fur- 
nished with immense mirrors, reaching from 
floor to ceiling ; carpets of the finest texture 
and the most exquisite patterns ; luxurious 
lounges, sofas, and arm-chairs ; massive tables 
covered with papers and periodicals, while the 
walls are adorned with beautiful and expensive 
paintings. Some years ago a picture which 



San Fra'>icisco. \ 1 1 

had hunar on the walls in one of these drink- 
ing-places was sold for twelve thousand five 
hundred dollars. Some of the keepers of 
these places are said to be men of consider- 
able education and culture. One of them, 
some years ago, was an art critic for a leading 
local newspaper, and wrote a readable book of 
San Francisco reminiscences. There are two 
classes of these saloons which furnish a mid- 
day repast far too pretentious to be called a 
"free lunch. " In the first a man gets a drink 
and a meal ; in the second, a drink and a meal 
of inferior quality. He pays for the drink 
(twenty-five or fifteen cents, according to the 
grade of the place) and gets his meal for noth- 
ing. This consists, in the better class of es- 
tablishments, of soup, boiled salmon, roast 
beef of excellent quality, bread and butter, 
potatoes, tomatoes, crackers and cheese. On 
the subject of eating, it may be said that the 
San Francisco markets supply almost every 
conceivable want of hungry humanity. The 
products of every clime are brought to the 
city. You can enjoy such luxuries as green 
peas, fresh tomatoes, celery, and cauliflower 
every day in the year, and even strawberries 
may be a perennial delight. Here, for months 



112 To California and Alaska. 

in succession, are grapes of many varieties, at 
from two to fifteen cents a pound ; here are 
apples from Northern California and Oregon, 
pears, figs, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, 
and blackberries from the neighboring valleys, 
and oranges, lemons, limes, and bananas from 
the southern counties, all in fullest perfection 
of form and ripeness, and at moderate prices 
by the pound — for fruits and vegetables are 
uniformly sold by weight. Salmon is plenti- 
ful throughout the year at ten to twenty cents 
a pound, with smelts, soles, herrings, cod, 
bass, shrimps — in fact, every treasure of the 
sea, while the variety of game is unequalled. 

The Eastern visitor is struck with the good 
management of the Wells & Fargo Express 
Company, which has been a great convenience 
in the far western part of the country. It ex- 
tends to every village, almost to every mining 
camp, in the Pacific States and Territories. It 
is said that the first three establishments set 
up in a new mining town are a restaurant, a 
billiard-saloon and a Wells & Fargo office ; 
these three enterprises represent the first stage 
of civilization. In the early days the company 
carried more letters on the Pacific coast than 
the QTovernment did, for, though it first paid 



San Francisco. 1 1 3 

the government postage on every one, and 
then added its own charges, the certainty and 
promptness of its carriage and dehvery being 
ahead of the post-office department, made the 
agency very much in favor with the pubHc. It 
has carried as many as three mihions of letters 
in the course of a year. It does errands of 
every sort, and to every place ; it exchanges 
gold and greenbacks ; it buys and sells gold 
and silver in the rough ; it owns all the princi- 
pal stage lines of the interior ; and it brings to 
market all the productions of the gold and 
silver mines. 

On the morning of May 3d, by invitation of 
General Miles, commanding the Department 
of the Pacific, who had called upon us on the 
preceding afternoon, and kindly extended to 
us the use of the government steamer for a 
sail in the harbor, we went to the Mission 
Street wharf and boarded the vessel McDow- 
ell. We sailed out through the Golden Gate, 
visited the fortress and the Union Iron Works, 
where they were building the San Francisco ; 
we saw the Charleston, which had just been 
completed, and was lying in a dock near by. 
About twenty-three miles from the Golden 
Gate are the Farallon Islands. They are six 



114 -^ California and Alaska. 

rugged islets, and the meaning of the word 
Farallon, which is Spanish, is a small pointed 
islet in the sea. These islands are seldom 
visited by travellers or pleasure-seekers. On 
one of them is a government light-house, a 
brick tower seventeen feet high, surmounted 
by a lantern and illuminating apparatus. 
There is also a fosf-whistle, which is a huije 
trumpet, six inches in diameter at its smaller 
end, and which is blown by the rush of air 
through a cave or passage connecting with 
the ocean. One of the numerous caves worn 
into the rocks by the surf had a hole at the 
top, through which the incoming breakers 
violently expelled the air they carried before 
them. This cave has been utilized. The 
mouth-piece of the trumpet or fog-whistle is 
fixed against the aperture in the rock, and the 
breaker, as it dashes in, blows the fog-whistle, 
which can be heard at a distance of seven or 
eight miles. 

The light-house keepers and their families 
on the only inhabited island pass a very lonely 
life. Their house, which is built under the 
shelter of the rocks, seems to be open to per- 
petual storm ; the sound of the ocean's roar is 
never absent day or night; wild birds scream, 



San Francisco. 1 1 5 

sea-lions howl, and every now and then there 
are dreadful storms to make the din more 
hideous. During the winter season the sup- 
ply vessel is unable, sometimes, to make a 
landing for weeks at a time. The islands are 
inhabited by multitudes of sea-lions, and vast 
numbers of birds and rabbits. The latter ani- 
mals are descendants from a few pairs brought 
to the islands, many years ago, by a specula- 
tor who intended to make a rabbit warren for 
the supply of the San Francisco market. The 
animals increase very rapidly, so much so that 
sometimes hundreds of them perish of starva- 
tion and general weakness. The sea-lions con- 
gregate by thousands upon the cliffs, many of 
them bigger than an ox. They lie in the sun 
upon the bare and warm rocks, or, climbing to 
high summits, fall asleep and finally plunge 
into the ocean below. They are sometimes 
caught by the use of the lasso, which has to be 
held by half a dozen men, or quickly fastened 
to a projecting rock, or the seal would surely 
get away. 

The wild birds which breed on these deso- 
late islands are gulls, murres, shags, and sea- 
parrots, the last a kind of penguin. For many 
years a company has gathered from these 



ii6 To Calif oiniia and Alaska. 

islands the eggs of the murre, the season last- 
ing from the middle of May until the last of 
July. About twenty men are employed in 
this work, living on the island during the time 
in rude shanties near the usual landing-place. 
The eeOfs are laid in the most inaccessible 
places, and the eggers are obliged to climb to 
points which a goat would hesitate about ap- 
proaching. The egger cannot carry a basket, 
but puts the eggs into his shirt-bosom, and 
when he has collected a sufficient number he 
takes them down the cliff to some place to de- 
posit, where they can be put in baskets, and 
subsequently taken to the regular receiving- 
house near the shore. These eggs are largely 
used in San Francisco by the restaurants and 
by bakers for omelets, cakes, and custards. 
In the early days of California, when pro- 
visions were high-priced, the ^^^ gatherers 
were very lucky. Once, in 1853, a boat ab- 
sent but three days brought in one thousand 
dozen, and sold the whole cargo at a dollar 
a dozen ; and in one season thirty thousand 
dozen were gathered, and brought an average 
of but little less than this price. 

On our return we reached San Francisco 
about half-past twelve, going to the Palace 



San Francisco. i i 7 

Hotel for lunch ; then went to Oakland with 
Mrs. Webb, where the train had been taken 
on a transport. We remained there until 
evening, taking on a large supply of groceries, 
the first since we had left New York. Our 
cars were put on the end of a regular train, 
this being the first time that we did not run 
special. The transport Solajio, that took us 
across to Sacramento, is capable of holding 
fifty-two freight cars and four engines. It is 
four hundred and fifty feet long, sixty-four feet 
wide, and has four tracks. This is probably 
the widest vessel afloat ; her extreme width 
over guards is one hundred and sixteen feet, 
and she has four paddle-wheels, each thirty 
feet in diameter. 

Mr. Towne came over to see us off, and we 
found it difficult to express our thanks and 
gratitude for the kind and considerate manner 
in which he and his people had treated us 
since we had been on their line. It would be 
a most difficult task for us to find a way to re- 
pay this gentleman for the courteous, thought- 
ful, and generous treatment we had received 
at his hands. 




CHAPTER XII. 



SAN FRANCISCO: THE CHINESE QUARTER. 

The evening of Wednesday the first of May 
was spent by the gentlemen of the party in a 
visit to the famous Chinese quarter of San 
Francisco. We were accompanied by our de- 
tective, and on this occasion saw more dirt, 
filth, and degradation than we imagined could 
exist in any city in the United States. 

The Chinese quarter of San Francisco lies 
principally in Dupont and Jackson streets, 
and within a stone's throw of the fashionable 
thoroughfare around Kearney Street, which 
was briirht and crowded on the nieht we made 
our excursion, its gay shops all ablaze with 
lights. Individually the Chinaman may be 
clean ; collectively he is just the opposite. 
The Chinese cook keeps his coppers and pans 
clean and bright, washes his hands frequently 
while pursuing his vocation, but go to his 

ii8 



San Francisco : The Chinese Quainter. 119 

home and you will find him living in a state 
of squalor and dirt which is truly shocking. 
Fifteen or twenty Chinamen will live, sleep, 
and cook in a hovel or cellar twelve feet 
square, having only a door for the purpose of 
admitting light and air. When the occupants 
are not cooking they are lying in their rude 
bunks on the side of the apartment, either 
sleeping or smoking opium. The boarding- 
houses established by the Chinese Companies 
soon become grimy and dirt-encrusted from 
cellar to roof. The Chinamen will live under 
the sidewalks, under staircases, in cramped 
bunks, and on rickety platforms, and when a 
building has once been occupied by Chinese, 
it must always remain a pest-hole or be torn 
down. 

The Chinese seem to have a particular affin- 
ity for subterranean dwellings. You go down 
a ladder-like staircase into a cellar, where you 
might expect to find coal or barrels stowed 
away, and, lo and behold, you are standing in 
a barber-shop. You pass farther along and 
find yourself in an underground pawnbroker's, 
the apartment very close and stuffy, and dimly 
lit by a feeble flaring lamp. The shop is 
crammed with every possible object on which 



I 20 To California and Alaska. 

a dollar can be raised. In one corner there is 
a heap of old clothes ; there are clocks, and 
an assortment of pistols and knives of all 
sorts, from the pocket penknife to a pair of 
murderous-looking- blades which seem espe- 
cially adapted for literally slicing a man to 
pieces. 

Beyond the pawnbroker's shop you will find 
an apartment dark, unventilated, and very 
much like the steerajje cabin of an emigrant 
steamer. There are wooden shelves, or bunks, 
on the sides of the wall, screened by ragged 
curtains. In each bunk there is a Chinaman, 
who is smoking his pipe of opium. He will 
take a pinch of the dark, jelly-like substance 
on a wire, melt it over a little lamp with which 
he is provided, then smear it over the aperture 
in the pipe, and draw it with great, deep 
breaths into his lungs. Many Chinamen lit- 
erally live in these dens. They pay so much 
rent for their bunk, in which they keep their few 
worldly possessions, and do their simple cook- 
ing in a little court outside of the building. 
Others work part of the day, and stay at the 
opium den at night. The opium pipe consists 
of a straight or slightly curved stem about 
eighteen inches long, with a bowl three inches 



San py an Cisco : The Chinese Quarter 



121 



round, in the centre of which is a small circu- 
lar hole. This leads to a smaller reservoir in 
the centre of the bowl, and a channel runs 
from this to the end of the pipe, which the 
smoker places in his mouth. 

The great aim of Mongolian existence, 
judging from what we saw, seems to be to 
get the largest number of human beings into 
the least possible space. The Chinese seem 
to herd together, to go in droves, and it would 
seem almost impossible that there should be a 
Chinese hermit. In this quarter of the town 
there are long, narrow, black alleys, so black 
that one has to grope his way, so narrow that 
the party must walk in single file, and so long 
that when you get to the end of them it seems 
as if you were miles away from the Golden 
City. You go through room after room, bur- 
row your way along narrow passages, under 
low rafters, and over slippery and shaky 
floors. You see nothing but dirt and rags 
and squalor, and the sickly odor of opium 
permeates every apartment. 

There are about ten heathen temples, or 
Joss-houses, in San Francisco, and some of 
them are fitted up with considerable splendor. 
The most noted was fitted up by a distin- 



122 To California ajid Alaska. 

guished Chinese physician, a resident of the 
city. The temples are usually in alleys, the best 
one being in the third story of a brick building, 
and in each apartment there are a dozen or 
more gods and goddesses, representing per- 
sons who have once lived and performed 
some good deed for which they have been 
deified. There is a gong placed near the 
deities ; also an oven. In the oven gifts and 
written representations of prayer, which are 
bought of the priest near by, are thrown, and 
as they burn the gong sounds to call the at- 
tention of the spirits who are to receive them 
to the offerings made. The deities represent 
different qualities, Joss being the supreme 
deity. There is a god of War, and there is 
a goddess of Mercy. The latter image was 
brought from China by the physician above 
referred to, and cost eiorht thousand dollars. 
The story about her is this : She was a fine 
young woman, and in order to escape a disa- 
greeable marriage went to the house of a 
religious sisterhood. Her father burned the 
buildings, but her prayers saved the occupants. 
Her mission in the other world is to look after 
the souls of those who have no friends here, 
or who have friends that are unmindful and 



San Francisco : The Chinese Quarter. 123 

negligent. One image represents a wretched 
looking being who has lost his soul through 
the commission of some great crime in this 
life. He is constantly in pursuit of his lost 
soul, sometimes in the act of grasping it, when 
it eludes him, and he is constantly obliged to 
keep up his restless search. The Chinese 
have no regular hours of worship, but come 
and go in the temples at all times ; they bow 
before the images in a perfunctory manner, 
and their worship seems to be as apathetic as 
their general demeanor. Most of these Joss- 
houses are dingy and carpetless, with tables 
covered with handsome vases, candlesticks, 
and other offerings ; panels of rare and curi- 
ous carving in bas-relief, protected by a gra- 
ting ; tinsel, trays of Joss-sticks, incense, and 
the gong, which gives forth a deep, sepulchral 
toll. 

The Chinese are inevitable gamblers, and 
the entrances to their gambling dens are 
guarded by two or three quiet-faced old 
Chinamen, who sit on little stools a few feet 
back from the sidewalk. These places are 
easily entered by the patrons of the estab- 
lishment, but should an unknown visitor, or 
ofificer, come to them, and give rise to the sus- 



124 ^^ California and Alaska. 

picion that a raid was going to be made upon 
the place, the old man at the door would pull 
a bell, and such a proceeding would be made 
impossible ; for the moment the bell is pulled a 
big door, six inches thick, with heavy crossbars 
of wood and iron, is closed at the farther end 
of the hall. If this door should be passed, 
the intruders would find themselves in a maze, 
with heavy, barricaded doors at every angle, 
each one supplied with ingenious mechanical 
contrivances which will bolt and bar them. 
The tinkle of the bell also warns the gamblers, 
who fly out at rear exits, or up to the roof. 

That these contrivances for protection from 
interference are very ingenious, is illustrated 
by the fact that, on one occasion, while a cer- 
tain wonderfully active and efficient officer was 
hotly pursuing the Mongolians in one of those 
winding passages, he suddenly found himself 
hauled up to the ceiling, with his neck in a 
noose, and there he dangled until he was cut 
down by his brother officers. 

The sfamblinor orame which the Chinese in- 
dulge in is called "tan." It is a simple bank- 
ing game, and played by rapidly dividing a 
number of buttons into three or four heaps, 
the betting being whether the heaps contain 



Sa7i Francisco : The Chinese Quarter. 125 

an odd or an even number. There is also a 
Chinese lottery, which in some respects re- 
sembles the game of " policy," played so 
extensively by the colored population of our 
large Eastern cities. On each ticket eighty 
Chinese numbers are printed. The buyer is 
allowed to cross out five or more of these 
numbers, and if any or all of them when 
drawn are found to be prizes, the money 
called for is paid. The drawings take place 
twice a day, and the prizes are five, varying 
from twenty-five cents to one hundred dollars. 
The price of the tickets is from ten cents to 
one dollar. 

Chinamen have many fights and quarrels 
among themselves, growing out of personal 
jealousies and rivalry. These may not be so 
common at the present time, but only a few 
years ago assassination was recognized as a 
legitimate means of settling a difficulty, and 
such placards as the following, offering rewards 
for the removal of any disagreeable individual, 
were not at all uncommon : 

" The members of the Wing Ye Tong Society offer a 
reward, on account of Cheung Sam's shoe factory vio- 
lating our rule. 

'' Consequently, our society discontinued work. 



126 To California and Alaska. 

" Unless they comply with our rules again, we will 
not work. 

" Some of our workmen secretly commenced to work 
for them. 

" We will offer $300. to any able man for taking the 
life of one of those men who secretly commenced to 
work, and $500. for the killing of Sam Lee. 

" We write this notice and seal by us for certainty. 

"The reign of Quong Chue, in the second year. The 

fourth of Chinese P^ebruary. ,, ,,. ,^ rj. 

■' " Wing Ye Tong. 

Chinese assaults were quite common a few 
years ago, so common indeed, that the local 
newspapers made mere items of the occur- 
rences, though some of the difficulties were 
what we would call of a vary grave character. 
A captain of police, hearing a disturbance, 
once went into one of the narrow alleys to see 
what was the trouble. He found there a 
Chinaman on the ground holding up his hands 
to shield his face. Another Chinaman was 
standing over him, a knife in each hand, slash- 
ing away as hard as he could. The fingers of 
the unfortunate victim were rapidly being 
hacked to pieces, the side of his face was a 
bubbling fountain of blood, his scalp was laid 
bare, and his nose cut to pieces. The would- 
be murderer was arrested and sentenced to ten 
years in State-prison, and died there before 



San Francisco : TJic Chinese Quarter. 127 

his term expired ; his victim recovered with 
three fingers and a half, one third of a nose, a 
forehead divided in two by a red scar, and his 
head drawn to one side from the effect of 
blood-letting. 

The Chinese theatre is one of the institu- 
tions of China Town. It will seat nearly a 
thousand people, and has a pit, gallery, and 
boxes. The men sit in one part of the build- 
ing wearing their hats, and women are allowed 
the privilege of attending on holidays, when 
the gallery is reserved for them. The doors 
of the theatre are opened at seven o'clock in 
the morning, and the performance begins soon 
after, and continues until eleven o'clock at 
night, with the exception of an intermission 
at noon for dinner, and a couple of hours, 
from five to seven o'clock, in the evening. 
There is no curtain, no scenery, and the play 
is not divided into acts and scenes. When a 
man is killed, he remains dead upon the stage 
for a reasonable period, until he gets tired of 
his horizontal position, when he gets up, and 
quietly walks off the stage. The orchestra, 
consisting of a row of men, sit on the rear of 
the stage just back of the performers, and 
play gongs, cymbals, and other loud-sounding 



128 To Califoj'nia and Alaska. 

Instruments dear to the Chinese heart. Wo- 
men do not take part in the performance, 
female characters being taken by men. His- 
torical plays usually last about six months, 
being continued from night to night until they 
are concluded. 

Nearly all kinds of business are represented 
in China Town, from the broker to the butcher, 
from the cobbler to the commission-merchant, 
from the tea-dealer to the thief, and from the 
goldsmith to the gambler. Many of the 
Chinese are cigar-makers and make a cheap 
and nasty quality of cigars. Many are en- 
gaged in boot- and shoe-making. A large 
number keep shops for the sale of pork. They 
are excellent fishermen. They work on the 
mountain roads and on new railways. They 
are employed in the sunny vineyards of So- 
noma, and clear snow-drifts from the great 
transcontinental highways. They have es- 
tablished wood-yards in San Francisco, and 
with baskets tied on each end of a pole, which 
they carry on their shoulders, they peddle 
vegetables in certain parts of the city. They 
manage to acquire a sufficient knowledge of 
English to carry on business intercourse, but 
their "pigeon English" is very grotesque and 



San Fi^ancisco : TJie Chinese Quarter, i 29 

Here is a specimen, — a " pigeon 
English " rendering of the first three lines of 
"' My name is Norval" : 

My namee being Norval topside that Glampian Hillee, 
My father you sabee my father, makee pay chow-chow- 
he sheep, 
He smallo heartee man, too muchee take care that doUa, 
gallo ? 




CHAPTER XIII. 



NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND MOUNT SHASTA. 



On the morning of May 4th, after leaving 
Redding, to which point we had now arrived, 
we gradually entered the mountains and ap- 
proached the far-famed Shasta Range, the 
scenery growing grander as we ascended the 
mountain gorge. The railroad crossed and 
re-crossed the Sacramento River eighteen times 
in seventy-eight miles. The forest was very 
dense, and the trees tall and large. On this 
particular morning, we stopped our train soon 
after breakfast, just as we were crossing a 
beautiful stream that emptied into the Sacra- 
mento, a short distance above Morley. Some 
of the party tried their luck at fishing, but we 
were not able to remain long, as we were 
afraid we might be overtaken by the Portland 
express, which was behind us at Redding ; as 
it was, our rear brakeman ran up to us and 
said that the train was coming up the moun- 

130 



No7'-thern California and Monni S/ias/a. 



I ^i 



tain. Our engineer had blown three whistles 
to call the party in, and before we could get 
away the express was waiting behind us, pant- 
ing, as if with impatience, to climb the steep 
grade just ahead. At Soda Springs, a short 
distance above Dunsmuir, there is an excellent 
hotel where parties can stop over and get good 
fishing. From Upper Soda we passed through 
a wild canyon, over trestles, the road windino- 
in a zigzag course up the mountain. At one 
point we could look down the great declivity 
and see three separate sections of the road on 
the side of the mountain, one below the other. 
From Upper Soda, where we left the Sacra- 
mento, it is not a half a mile by the path up 
the mountain to McCloud, but by the railroad 
it is eight miles. At this point we stopped 
our train, got out, and going to the edge of 
the mountain we could look down and see the 
day-express train winding its way up the ac- 
clivity some seven hundred feet below. Mc- 
Cloud is a lumber town, filled with logs and 
saw-mills. In its immediate vicinity is the 
McCloud River, which is famous for the size 
and quality of its trout. 

At Sisson, situated in the Strawberry Valley, 
a few miles beyond McCloud, we stopped and 



132 To California and Alaska. 

had a fine sight of Mount Shasta. This moun- 
tain is not only the most striking topographical 
feature of Northern California, but the largest 
and grandest peak of the Cascade and Sierra 
Nevada rano-es. It stands alone at the southern' 
end of Shasta Valley. In approaching it from 
the north and south there is a gradual increase 
in the elevation of the country for about fifty 
miles ; the region near the base itself thus 
attains an altitude of three thousand five hun- 
dred feet above the sea. The mountain itself 
is fourteen thousand five hundred feet above 
the sea level. The ascent may be accomplished, 
in a favorable season, without much danger or 
difficulty, by stout resolute men. The extreme 
exhaustion realized in ascending mountains 
like Blanc or the Matterhorn is not experienced ; 
nor is the trial so dangerous, by reason of huge 
.fissures and icy chasms ; the main difficulty 
arises from the rarefied condition of the air, 
to which the system must adapt itself rather 
suddenly for comfort. The ascent is frequently 
made by parties who stop at Sisson and take 
two days for the trip, going on horseback to 
Sisson Camp, and the next morning on foot 
to the summit. Sisson Camp is just on the 
edge of the timber line. Parties go there, and 



Northern California and Mount Shasta. 133 

remain for weeks at a time, making hunting 
excursions into the woods and remaining away 
for three or four days. The hunting in this 
vicinity is said to equal any that can be found 
on the coast from Portland to San Francisco, 
and the fishing is without a parallel. This 
region is, in fact, a hunter's paradise : grizzly, 
black, and cinnamon bears, are found without 
number ; elk and mountain sheep tempt the 
skill of the venturesome sportsman ; antelope 
are sometimes seen on the foot-hills ; while 
deer of all varieties, especially the mule and 
black-tail, are in such abundance as scarcely to 
be sought after. 

The view of the mountain from Shasta 
Plains is very grand. With no intervening 
mountains to obstruct the prospect, the base 
is seen resting amonof the dense evergreen 
forests ; higher up, it is girdled with hardy 
plants and shrubs to the region of frosts, and 
thence the sheetine snow. Durinor some sea- 
sons the ereat monarch seems to retire to 
gloomy solitudes and sits a storm king upon 
the clouds, invisible to mortal eye. 

A well-known writer, Clarence King, who 
made the ascent of Shasta, thus relates one of 
his experiences : " From a point about mid- 



134 ^^ California and Alaska. 

way across where I had climbed and rested 
upon the brink of an ice-cliff, the glacier below 
me breaking off into its wild pile of cascade 
blocks and serac, I looked down over all the 
lower flow, broken with billowy upheavals, and 
bright with bristling spires of sunlit ice. Upon 
the ri^ht rose the crreat cone of Shasta, formed 
of chocolate-colored lavas, its sky-line a single 
curved sweep of snow cut sharply against a 
deep-blue sky. To the left, the precipices of 
the lesser cone rose to the altitude of twelve 
thousand feet, their surfaces half-jagged ledges 
of lava, and half irregular sheets of ice. From 
my feet the glacier sank rapidly between vol- 
canic walls, and the shadow of the lesser cone 
fell in a dark band across the brilliantly lighted 
surface. Looking down its course, my eye 
ranged over sunny and shadowed zones of ice, 
over the gray-boulder region of the terminal 
moraine ; still lower, along the former track 
of ancient and grander glaciers, and down upon 
undulating pine-clad foot-hills descending in 
green steps, and reaching out like promon- 
tories into the sea of plain which lay outspread 
nine thousand feet below, basking in the half- 
tropical sunshine, its checkered green fields 
and orchards ripening their wheat and figs." 



NortJiern Califor7iia and Mount Shasta. 135 

In the forests around Mount Shasta are 
found the maple, evergreen oak, and several 
varities of pine, including the spruce, the 
cedar, and the fir. Chief among them all for 
symmetry and perfection of figure is the 
majestic sugar-pine, nearly equalling the red- 
wood in size, and excelled by none as a beauti- 
ful forest-tree. The Sacramento River rises 
far up on the southwestern slope of the moun- 
tain, far above vegetation and the timber line, 
and almost amid eternal snow. The McCloud, 
its principal tributary, rises on the eastern slope. 

After leaving Sisson, we travelled through 
the beautiful Shasta Valley, later in the day 
ascending the Siskiyou Mountains just before 
crossing into Oregon. This part of our jour- 
ney was exceedingly interesting. At the foot 
of the grade we attached to our train of four 
cars two large consolidated engines. In the 
distance we could see the road winding up the 
mountain. At the top of the ascent, ten miles 
before we came to it, we saw the entrance to 
a tunnel which is four thousand one hundred 
and sixty feet in length, and which our train 
subsequently passed through. The grade up 
the mountain was nearly two hundred feet to 
the mile. After passing through the tunnel 



136 To California and Alaska. 

we came to Siskiyou, the highest point on the 
road. The view from this point was grand in 
the extreme. Looking down into the valley 
below we could easily distinguish the railroad 
wending its wa) northward, and it seemed in- 
credible to us that our train would also soon 
be in the same position. To the right and 
east the Cascade Mountain, extending fully 
four hundred miles to the north, loomed up 
into view. The grade on the north side of 
the Siskiyou Mountains we found more tortu- 
ous and much steeper than on the south side, 
and at certain places our train had to go very 
slowly, lest our cars, being unusually long, 
should strike the sides of the mountain. In 
making our descent we were obliged to cross 
many high trestles, to go through three tun- 
nels, and the road so twisted and turned that 
we could scarcely have told the points of the 
compass, much less the locality in which we 
were, if we had not been accompanied by the 
superintendent of the division, who helped us 
to a knowledge of our surroundings. When 
we reached the valley the scenery was of a 
very different character. We had rapidly been 
taken away from everything that pertained to 
a tropical climate, and the rich and profuse 
vegetation for which California is famous. 



NorfJurn California and JMoiint Shasta. 



01 



The region through which we were travelhng- 
reminded us very much of what we were 
accustomed to see in the East, more especially 
the pastoral life peculiar to the New England 
States. It was noted, too, that even the trees 
in this part of the country were similar to 
those to be found around our country home 
at Shelburne, Vermont, and very different 
from the varieties we had met with on the 
California slope. 

Ashland is the terminus of the Southern 
Pacific road ; it is four hundred and thirty-one 
miles from San Francisco. At this point we 
changed engines, and travelled over the 
Oregon and California Railroad, a line leased 
by the Southern Pacific. During the after- 
noon we stopped in the Shasta Valley and 
tried our luck at fishing in a pretty stream 
which, as we crossed it, looked as though 
it would give us some sport. The train was 
sent on about five miles ahead to a sidine, 
with instructions to return for us in about two 
hours. Our party got out of the cars and 
fished, but succeeded in capturing only a few 
of the finny tribe. Shortly after breakfast on 
this particular morning the following telegram 
was delivered to us ; it will serve to indicate, in 
some small degree at least, the generous and 



138 To California and Alaska. 

thoughtful treatment we received at the hands 
of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company : 

''Dr. JF. S. Webb and party : 

" Good-morning. I hope you are enjoying yourselves 
thoroughly. Do not fail to remember that I am at the 
other end of the wire, and call upon me for anything 
you want. A. Towne." 

The northern part of CaHfornia is, in many 
respects, one of the most interesting portions 
of the State ; it is particularly adapted to 
sheep-grazing, and it is said that there are not 
a few young men who have migrated to this 
part of the State, started with a few sheep, 
and are now wealthy. Although the largest 
flocks of sheep are in the southern part of the 
State, the best quality of wool comes from the 
north. Klamath, Humboldt, Trinity, Tehama, 
Mendocino, and Yuba counties, where no sheep 
formerly ranged, now send the best wool. A 
few years ago all the wool was sent by sailing 
vessels round Cape Horn to New York and 
England. When the Pacific Mail Steamship 
Company increased their carrying facilities, at 
the same time reducinor their rates of freight, 
it was sent by way of the Isthmus of Panama. 
At the present time nearly all the wool goes 
by the Central Pacific Railroad. 

Some enterprising sheep-grazers in the Sac- 



Northern California and Mount Shasta. 1 39 

ramento Valley own a range in the foot-hills, 
and another on the bottom lands. Durino- 
the summer the sheep are kept in the bottoms, 
which are then dry, and full of rich grasses ; 
in the fall and winter they are taken to the 
uplands, and there they lamb and are shorn. 
Sheep are sometimes driven into the moun- 
tains, where they have green grass all summer, 
and it is not unusual to see groups of the ani- 
mals crossing the Sacramento without a driver, 
and in the fall returning, of their own motion, 
each to its respective owner. 




CHAPTER XIV. 



MONTANA. 



We arrived at Portland, Oregon, on the 
morning of Sunday, May 5th. Mr, Boothby, 
of the Pullman Car Company, met us on our 
arrival, and did everything in his power to 
make our stay pleasant and comfortable. We 
attended the Episcopal Church in the morn- 
ing, and in the afternoon drove over the town 
and through the park. Portland is the largest 
town of Oregon, and lies on the banks of the 
Willamette. We noticed that Sunday was 
observed with much greater strictness than in 
most towns on the Pacific coast. Large trees 
are to be found on every hand, and the few 
farms that are to be seen must have been 
cleared at very great expense. Portland was 
one of the first cities to be settled on the 
northern slope of the Pacific coast, but it is 

140 



Montana, 



141 



only within the past few years that it has grown 
much in population ; most of the immigration 
has been towards Tacoma, Seattle, and other 
towns farther north. The valley of the Will- 
amette is a most fertile region, and very 
attractive in its natural curiosities. Many 
remarkable instances are to be found here of 
those eccentric mountain formations known 
as beetlers — huge conical, isolated hills. 

We arrived at Tacoma about midnight on 
the 5th, and were placed on a side-track. It 
is evidently a new and certainly not a very in- 
viting-looking city. When we were there the 
streets were not paved, but were covered hub- 
deep with mud. The sidewalks had a very 
rough and crude appearance, and the whole 
settlement looked like a frontier town. Not- 
withstanding all this, however, there had been 
such a boom in real estate that the price of a 
twenty-five foot lot with a very ordinary build- 
ing on it was from twenty-five to thirty thou- 
sand dollars. Whittier may have had such 
Western towns in view when he wrote : 

I hear the tread of pioneers, 

Of nations yet to be — 
The first low wash of waves 

Where soon shall roll a human sea. 



142 To California and Alaska. 

Behind the squaw's light birch canoe 
The steamer smokes and raves, 

And city lots are staked for sale 
Above old Indian graves. 

The weather was cold and rainy when we 
arrived here, and our spirits were at a very 
low ebb. A call was made upon the General 
Superintendent of the Pacific division of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, who was found to 
be quite agreeable though very busy, and un- 
able to leave his office. He at once made 
arrangements to have us leave for the East 
over his road as soon as we could get some in- 
formation we wanted in regard to the fishing 
along the line. We did not go to Seattle, as it 
would have consumed another day. 

We stopped at the foot of the Cascade Range 
and fished for two hours without success. The 
superintendent of this division came down to 
meet us, and with two consolidation engines, 
each having ten drivers, took us over the range ; 
the grade, at this point, being one hundred and 
seventy-four feet to the mile. This range of 
mountains includes some of the loftiest peaks 
in the United States, among which are Mount 
Hood, Mount Jefferson, and Mount Pitt. The 
first of this grand trio has a volcanic crest four- 



Montana. 143 

teen thousand feet above the level of the sea ; 
on its northern side it is nearly vertical for 
seven thousand feet ; there the snows of winter 
accumulate till they reach the very summit, 
but when the summer thaw commences all this 
vast body of snow becomes disintegrated at 
once, and, in a sweeping avalanche, buries it- 
self in the deep furrows at its base and leaves 
the precipice bare. 

We arrived at Spokane Falls early on the 
morning of May 7th. Dr. Merriam, to whom 
I had telegraphed from Tacoma, met us on 
our arrival, and gave us some information that 
we had requested about the fishing. Spokane 
Falls is a very prosperous town, and the streets 
are well laid out and planned for a city of 
some thirty or forty thousand inhabitants, al- 
though the population at present is less than 
half the first estimate mentioned. This is the 
distributing place for the mines, and the great 
success which is just now attending those enter- 
prises is likely to materially raise the price of 
real estate. 

At eleven o'clock, on this particular morn- 
ing, we went to Hope, on Lake Pend d'Oreille. 
This is a new station and a divisional point of 
the Northern Pacific; as the railroad moved 



144 T^o California and Alaska. 

its round-houses here owing to the water giv- 
inof out at the former terminus. We eot a 
boat from the Northern Pacific Railroad, and 
Mrs. Webb, Dr. McLane, and the writer took 
a sail on the lake ; the other members of the 
party went fishing in small boats and had very- 
good luck, catching trout near the shore 
weighing from two to three pounds. This 
lake is beautifully encircled by mountains, and 
is sixty miles long ; the water is from five hun- 
dred to eight hundred feet deep. There are 
no towns near it, and it is as wild a place as 
the traveller will seldom see. On the north- 
ern bank of the lake there is a very small 
place called Chloride, where the miners stop 
on their way to the Chloride Silver Mines. 
Before we left this locality for Helena, which 
we did the next evening at half-past six, the 
boys went out fishing again and returned with 
a very good catch. 

We arrived at Helena on the morning of 
May 9th, Mr. Shelby, the General Manager 
of the Montana Central (which is a part of 
the Manitoba system), met us on our arrival 
and took us over the road to Butte, the laro^est 
mining city in the world, where the celebrated 
Anaconda Silver Mines are located. After 



Montana. 1 45 

lunch we took carriages and drove around the 
city, which struck us as being a very strange 
town. Half of the population worked in the 
mines during the day, and the other half dur- 
ing the night. The liveliest hours of the day 
were twelve o'clock noon, and at midnight, 
when the day gangs came up to be relieved 
by the night workers. 

The primitive manner of gathering gold in 
the Montana mines is rude and incomplete 
enough. In all the gulches, at depths vary- 
ing from six to fifty feet, is a bed-rock of the 
same general conformation as the surface. 
Usually this is granite ; but sometimes before 
reaching the primitive rock two or three strata 
of pipe-clay — the later beds of the stream, 
upon which frequently lies a deposit of gold — 
are passed. Upon the bed-rock is a deposit 
from three to four feet in depth of gravel and 
boulders, in which the gold is hidden. This 
is called by the miner "pay-dirt," and to re- 
move it to the surface and wash it is the end 
of mining. It is an expensive and laborious 
process indeed. The water has first to be 
controlled ; and in mines of not too great 
depth this is done by a drain ditch along the 
bed-rock, commenced many claims below. In 



146 77? California and Alaska. 

this all the claim-holders are interested, and 
all contribute their quota of the labor and 
expense of digging it. The district laws per- 
mit ever)- person to run such a drain through 
all the claims below his own, and force every 
man to contribute alike towards its construc- 
tion, on pain of not being allowed to use the 
water, even though it flows through his own 
land. The water controlled, the rest is mere 
physical labor, which only bones and sinews 
of iron can endure. In the shallow dicrorincrs 
the superincumbent earth above the pay-dirt 
is removed, and the process is called "strip- 
ping." In deep diggings a shaft is sunk to the 
bed-rock, and tunnels are nm in every direc- 
tion, and this is called "driftinor." The roof 
is supported by strong piles, but these sup- 
ports too frequently give way, and hurry the 
poor miners to untimely deaths. The pay- 
dirt, in whichever way obtained, is then shov- 
elled into the sluice-boxes — a series of lonof 
troughs so made as to prevent the gold from 
washing past, or the dirt from settling to the 
bottom. The o-old beinof heavier sinks to 
the bottom and is caught by cross-bars called 
"rififles"; in the lower boxes is frequently 
placed quicksilver, with which the lighter par- 



Montana. 147 

tides amalgamate. During the washings the 
large stones and boulders are removed by a 
fork. The heavy sand and iron are separated by 
a careful washing by hand and by the magnet. 
In the new and thinly settled countries of 
the West many ideas have always been ex- 
pressed by figures drawn from the pursuits 
of the people. Much of the language of the 
Indians is expressed by signs. So, with 
miners, their conversation is full of expres- 
sions peculiar to their vocation. The new 
settler is called a "pilgrim" or a "tender- 
foot." The term "adobe," the sun-dried 
brick, applied to a man, signifies vealiness 
and verdancy. A "corral" is an enclosure 
into which herds are gathered ; hence a person 
who has everything arranged to his satisfaction 
announces that he has everything "corralled." 
A man fortunate in any business has " struck 
the pay-dirt" ; unfortunate, has "reached the 
bed-rock." Everything viewed in the aggre- 
gate, as a train, a family, or a town, is an 
" outfit." A miner in criticising a certain 
lawyer in his neighborhood — " a great blower," 
as he would be called in the East — said ex- 
pressively : " When you come to pan him out, 
you don't find color." 



14S To California and Alaska. 

The names of the o-ulches near Helena are 
very suggestive ; here are some of the most 
peculiar ones : Bean Gulch, Bilk Gulch, 
Boomerang Gulch, Greenhorn Gulch, Hell- 
Gate Gulch, Hail-Columbia Gulch, Hangman's 
Gulch, Hope Gulch, Ice-House Gulch, Last- 
Chance Gulch, Lost-Horse Gulch, Magpie 
Gulch, New-York Gulch, Peter's Gulch, Show- 
Down Gulch, and Yankee - Doodle Gulch. 
Helena is the second point of importance 
in the Territory. Near it are the low valleys 
of the Missouri, which are rapidly becoming 
the homes of thrifty farmers. 

In regard to the grazing qualities of this 
country, finer grasses have never anywhere 
been seen than between the Columbia and the 
Missouri rivers. Their nutritive qualities are 
apparent from the number and condition of 
the stock that feed upon them. Wild hay 
is cut from thousands of acres. The ofrass 
is mostly a wild bunch-grass, growing from 
twelve to eighteen inches high, and covering 
the entire country. Horses and horned stock 
by thousands, and sheep by the hundreds, all 
bespeak the wealth that is wrapped up in the 
native grasses of this region. Years ago it 
was prophesied that the wealth of this beauti- 



Montana. 1 49 

fill region would eventually consist of thousands 
of fleecy sheep to be sheared ; the streams of 
the Rocky Mountains themselves might be 
caught and harnessed to the spindles and 
looms of wool manufactories to be erected, 
and the wool-trade with the St. Louis market 
would constitute a trade replete with wealth 
and magnitude. 

The city was started by a few emigrants 
from Minnesota, who discovered a ofold mine 
which, for several months, they worked quietly, 
amid their majestic mountain scenery, making 
no announcement of their wealth. In the 
winter of 1864 their secret became known, 
and a heterogeneous population was drawn to 
the locality. Claims advanced in price, and 
the discoverers reaped fortunes. A hundred 
ravines near Helena showed gold, and every 
one of them was soon claimed from mouth to 
source. The first settlement made here was 
called Last-Chance Gulch. 

The years 1865 and 1866 were those of the 
greatest excitement and immigration and gold 
production in the Territory. In the latter 
year, probably thirty-five thousand people were 
there, and twelve to fifteen millions of dollars 
were taken out, mostly from the sides and 



150 To California and Alaska. 

bottoms of the gulches. Two men washed 
out a ton of gold, and from a single " bar" in 
Confederate Gulch three companies took a 
million and a half of dollars' worth. 

The ranchman finds in Helena a good mar- 
ket for his produce — butter, eggs, cattle, 
horses, sheep, etc. The majority of the 
ranches are stocked with the best, and it is 
not a matter of wonder that they furnish the 
finest veal, beef, and mutton in the world. 
It is a fact that cattle are herded during the 
winter months, and on the approach of spring 
are in better condition and fatter than cattle 
in the Eastern States which are corn-fed and 
kept stabled during the same period. The 
same remark also applies to horses and mules. 
Considering the newness of the country it is 
well supplied with produce. Thousands of 
tons of hay are put up every season, and 
esculent roots are raised in prolific quan- 
tities. 

We left Helena on the evening of the 9th 
of May, passing through the Prickly-Pear 
Canyon and following the Missouri River. 
The road crossed and recrossed the old stage 
route to Helena, which was abandoned only a 
few years ago. 



Montana. 151 

Great Falls (at which point we arrived about 
eleven o'clock in the evening) is situated at the 
wonderful falls of the Missouri River, just 
where the Sun River empties into that stream. 
The town is beautifully located, and it is safe 
to say it has more natural resources, as a town 
site, than any other place in the country. At 
this point the Missouri River has a fall of five 
hundred feet in a few miles. The country 
around the town is a gently undulating plain, 
the land being of an excellent quality and 
varying from a sandy loam to a dark clay 
loam, without any admixture of sand. This 
description of country extends for miles around 
Great Falls, the nearest mountains, plainly in 
sight and densely timbered, being twenty-five 
miles away. 

The principal street is lined with business 
houses, built of brick and stone. Though the 
town is only three years old, it has a popu- 
lation of two thousand inhabitants, public 
parks, electric lights, a fine hotel, and public 
school-house. Eventually it will be the dis- 
tributing point for all the mines in the 
neighborhood ; it will be to Montana what 
Denver and the country surrounding it are 
to Colorado. 



152 To California and Alaska. 

On the morning of the loth of May, with 
an engine and the buffet-car, we went to San 
Cohi, about sixteen miles south of Great Falls, 
where the new coal-mines are located. These 
mines were discovered a short time before we 
visited them, and have now been worked about 
a year and a half. They have a working thick- 
ness of from seven to fourteen feet. Previous 
to their discovery the railroad at this point 
was compelled to haul its coal from St. Paul, 
a distance of fifteen hundred miles, obtaining 
the greater part of it from Ohio. Since the 
discovery of the coal-mines a large smelter has 
been put up by prominent New York capital- 
ists, to smelt iron ore, which is found in the 
hills near by in great abundance. A railroad 
has been built to the mines, so that now the 
ore can be delivered to the smelter at com- 
paratively small cost. A million dollars has 
already been expended on this smelter, and a 
Boston company has lately erected another at 
a cost of half a million more than that sum. 
Heretofore it would not have been practicable 
to erect smelters in this part of the country, 
owine to the want of coal, but since its dis- 
covery ores can be brought from Butte and 
the mines near by direct to the smelter, and 
smelted, thus leaving only the valuable part of 



Montana. i 5 3 

the ores to be transported East. The reader 
can form some idea of the richness of the ores 
in the mines south of this point, when it is 
stated that the owners can afford to draw the 
ores by team a distance of nearly sixty miles 
to the smelter. There is also at this place a 
very valuable lime quarry, which yields fifty- 
two per cent, of lime. 

We were all very much interested in our 
visit to the smelter, and also enjoyed the sight 
of an enormous spring that bursts from the 
ground just below Black Eagle Falls, about 
one hundred yards back from the river. This 
is the largest known spring in America, and 
is believed by many to be the mouth of a sub- 
terranean river. Accordino- to an entrineer's 
report on the subject, the volume of water 
from it equals a river one foot deep and 
seventy yards wide. Captains Lewis and Clark, 
who explored the Missouri in 1804, mentioned 
this great natural phenomenon. 

Here, also, is a natural spring of pure cold 
water, which, if walled up, to any desired 
height, could supply the upper story of any 
house on the highest point in this region, 
while in quantity there is enough to supply 
two cities as laree as New York. 



CHAPTER XV. 
"THE GARDEN OF MONTANA." 

On leaving Great Falls, coming east, we jour- 
neyed for two hundred miles through the Judith 
basin, which is known as " The Garden of Mon- 
tana." Benton, which is forty miles northeast 
of Great Falls, is one of the great shipping 
points of Montana. In 1888 there were shipped 
from Benton three thousand four hundred head 
of fat cattle, sixty-two thousand five hundred 
head of sheep, and nearly two million pounds of 
wool. From "The Garden of Montana" east 
of Great Falls, on the Manitoba Railroad, in 
the same period, there were shipped thirty-five 
thousand head of fat cattle, ninety-four thou- 
sand head of sheep, and about two and a half 
million pounds of wool. 

We passed through Assiniboia, near to which 
is Fort Assiniboine, which we could see from 
the train. This is one of the largest and best- 
built military posts in the United States, the 

154 



" The Garden of Montana r 155 

buildlnofs alone havinof cost over two millions 
of dollars. There are seven companies of infan- 
try and two of cavalry stationed here. Before 
the railroad was built, some two years and a 
half ago, Helena, two hundred and seventy 
miles away, was the nearest point of railroad 
communication. Bear Paw Mountains, rising 
out of an almost level prairie, can be seen for 
miles around. The range is about seven thou- 
sand feet high, and is covered by large tracts of 
pine timber. Several streams of fine spring 
water gush forth on the plains from the sides 
of the mountain range. Valuable leads of gold, 
silver, and lead were discovered two summers 
ago, and many mines were located. At the 
base of these mountains is one of the most at- 
tractive tracts of land ever seen ; it is slightly 
rolling, and elevated about five hundred feet 
above the valley of the Milk River. Summer 
before last we were told that the erass was 
waist-high over the whole face of the country, 
and very thick ; it had been nourished by the 
frequent summer showers which are peculiar to 
this section. Large veins of the finest bitumi- 
nous coal, from six to twenty feet in thickness, 
crop out at frequent intervals along the banks 
of the streams. 



156 To California and Alaska. 

The country through which we passed tow- 
ards evening was unsettled and looked very 
new ; although a fertile and good grass coun- 
try, for a distance of two hundred miles we saw 
only four houses, and those were railway sta- 
tions. Many of the stations on this part of 
the road consist of simply a switch or siding, 
with the name put on a post driven into the 
ground ; attached to the post is a box contain- 
ing a telegraph key connected with the wires, 
so that an operator may telegraph in case of 
necessity. The Manitoba road carries an op- 
erator on each of its trains, so that these boxes 
can be used in case of need. There are no 
lamps on these switches, and if there were there 
are no inhabitants here to attend to them. 

During a part of the journey the writer took 
one of the children on the engine, where he re- 
mained an hour; it was the first experience of 
the kind he had ever had. We saw a number 
of wolves on the prairie, and, at times, passed 
many groups of Indians, especially at Assini- 
boine, where we purchased from them a num- 
ber of buffalo horns. 

Although this country is so sparsely inhabited 
it must be borne in mind that only eighteen 
months before we saw it there was no rail- 
road passing through the section, and the 



" TJic Garden of jMontana.' 157 

government had only a year before opened this 
great reservation for settlement, which, in 
itself, is an empire containing about eighteen 
millions of acres, eligible for free homes under 
the United States land laws. This great tract 
through which the railroad runs is the cream of 
the Territory, and, without doubt, in the future 
will represent the great grain-producing sec- 
tion of the United States. 

Many people suppose that because this Ter- 
ritory is near the northern boundary its climate 
is severe ; the contrary is the case. It is with- 
in the limits of the warm winds which blow from 
the Pacific coast in the winter. These winds 
are called "chinooks," and as long as they con- 
tinue, which is often for days at a time, the 
weather will be mild and spring-like. The 
limit of the " chinook" winds is three hundred 
miles east of the mountains, and within this sec- 
tion all kinds of stock graze at large the year 
round. The valleys are protected, and with 
the high plains are all richly watered. The 
slight snows melt immediately after they fall, 
leaving the ground bare, and it is very seldom 
that there is enough snow to allow sleighing. 
The rivers, if they close at all, remain frozen 
but for a few weeks, the ice invariably going 
out the last of January or during February. 



158 



To CalifoT-nia and Alaska. 



Signal-service records show that the tempera- 
ture in the winter is often higher at Great Falls 
than at San Antonio, Texas, or at Memphis, 
Tennessee. In the vicinity of Great Falls the 
climate is especially beneficial to persons with 
weak lungs, consumption and kindred diseases 
beinof almost unknown. 



Temperatures for 


February, 1888 


, AT 






Helena. 


Chicago. 


St. 


Louis. 


1 

I 7 A.M. 3 r.M. 


7 A.M. 3 P.M. 


7 A.M. 


3 P.M. 


February I 30 36 


30 32 


30 


34 




2 


28 24 


28 32 


34 


34 




3 


22 32 


30 32 


32 


34 




4 


24 30 


32 32 


32 


36 




5 ! 20 34 


24 20 


22 


20 




6 32 36 


6 24 


22 


34 




7 38 40 


14 14 


34 


46 




8 46 38 


12 


14 


16 




9 


44 44 


16 6 


6 


4 




10 


36 42 


4 12 


6 


14 




II 44 48 


4 18 


18 


24 




' 12 46 56 


16 28 


18 


44 




13 40 40 


26 42 


34 


48 




14 


42 30 


26 16 


46 


30 




15 


28 20 


8 16 


16 


26 




16 


36 48 


14 36 


24 


44 




17 34 46 


28 40 


36 


52 




18 40 42 


36 42 


38 


56 




19 34 42 


48 46 


48 


58 




20 34 38 


28 24 


34 


46 




21 34 40 


18 28 


32 


36 




' 22 38 46 


28 38 


32 


44 




23 32 44 


34 38 


36 


46 




24 28 40 


32 40 


38 


42 




25 34 38 


34 16 


30 


30 




26 1 34 44 


4 6 


20 


22 




27 1 34 52 


2 6 





12 


'* 28 1 28 12 


10 30 


18 


32 



" The Garden of Montana y 159 

The above table will give a very good idea 
of the temperature at Great Falls, which is 
only a few miles east of Helena, and if any- 
thing is a milder climate than at Helena. 

The farmers begin the work of sowing their 
crops in February and March. The summers 
are not excessively hot. Harvest commences 
in August, and fall work is continued through 
the months of September, October, and No- 
vember. Mild autumn weather lasts into 
December, thus giving a season of nine or 
ten months of beautiful weather. A notable 
feature about the climate is the dryness of the 
air ; in the winter the mountains can be easily 
seen from sixty to one hundred miles away. 
Wheat yields from thirty to sixty bushels per 
acre, oats from fifty to one hundred and five 
bushels per acre, barley forty to seventy 
bushels, timothy from one and a half to three 
tons per acre, and other grains in proportion. 
Timber grows freely along the rivers ; saw- 
mills, tanneries, flouring-mills, and mechanics' 
shops are in active and profitable operation ; 
so that, with a climate almost as favorable as 
that of Colorado, and a soil more fertile, and 
an industry similarly diversified, Montana 
seems sure to occupy an important place in 
the commerckl future of the Great West. 



i6o To California and Alaska. 

The Great Falls of the Missouri, from which 
the town of Great Falls takes its name, are 
esteemed by travellers as holding rank scarcely 
below the cataracts of Niagara. Beyond 
Council Bluffs commences a country of great 
interest and grandeur, called the Upper Mis- 
souri ; buffalo, elk, and mountain sheep abound. 
Lewis, and Clark, and other travellers relate 
having seen here large and singular petrifac- 
tions, both animal and vegetable. On the top 
of a hill they found a petrified skeleton of a 
huge fish, forty-five feet in length. Naviga- 
tion is very dangerous, on account of the swift 
current, the countless islands and sand-bars, 
and the murderous "snags" and "sawyers." 
A "snag" is a tree which, when washed away 
from the banks, floats into the stream, and 
then partially sinks ; the roots become fastened 
in the bottom, and then the sharp stems, rising 
nearly to and above the surface of the water, 
are the fatal snags that almost instantly sink 
any steamer striking them. They always lie 
with theirsharp ends pointing down the stream, 
and consequently are dangerous principally to 
ascending steamers. When a steamer is de- 
scending the stream, it slides over them, 
instead of being impaled. They are then 
known as "sawyers," if they project above the 



" The Garden of Mofitanay 



i6i 



water, the current g^ivlno- them a wavintr mo- 
tion. At a low stage of water, navigation is 
almost impossible. 

The Great Falls of the Missouri are also 
wonderful, considered from a utilitarian point 
of view, or, in other words, the amount of 
water-power which they would be capable of 
furnishing, which, as estimated by a prominent 
engineer, would be one million horse-power. 
It would seem to be only a question of time 
when the town of Great Falls will be another 
St. Paul or Minneapolis. The Manitoba road 
intend building a line north of Great Falls, 
to connect with the Canadian Pacific. 




CHAPTER XVI. 



FROM ST. PAUL TO MANITOBA. 



We arrived at St. Paul on Sunday morning. 
May 1 2th, about half-past seven o'clock, and 
after breakfast went at once to the Ryan 
House. Soon after our arrival Mr. F. B. 
Clarke, of the Omaha road, called upon us ; 
we had the pleasure of dining with him, and 
afterwards spent the evening with Mr. Hill. 

After getting comfortably settled in our 
rooms In the morning, we took carriages and 
drove around the city. Some of our party 
went to church, and in the afternoon we took 
another drive around the town. 

The following (Monday) morning, the 
writer's brother, Walter, Vice-President ; Mr. 
Flagg, General Superintendent ; Mr. Spoor, 
Division Superintendent ; and Mr. Smith, pri- 
vate secretary, arrived from New York. The 
morning was occupied in talking over " Com- 

lf)2 



From- St. Paul to Alanitoba. 163 

pany " matters. After lunch our whole party 
went out to Mr. Hill's farm. While Mrs. Webb 
and the writer were admiring" the stock on the 
place, the rest of the party went fishing. We 
returned to the city about seven o'clock, in 
time to see Walter and his party off to Chicago. 
Mr. Smith had arranged to remain, and accom- 
pany us a little way on the Canadian Pacific, 
when, with Louis, he intended to take the 
train, going home to New York by way of 
Montreal. We had expected Mr. Creighton 
Webb to join us here and take Louis' place, 
but for some reason he could not get away. 
Soon after breakfast we all went over to 
Minneapolis. On our arrival there we were 
met by Mr. Thomas Lowry, who favored us 
with a pleasant drive over the city, showing us 
the parks and other places of interest, and tak- 
ing us around the suburbs of the city. The 
writer had been to Minneapolis many times 
before, but must confess that not until this 
occasion had he ever realized the extent and 
beauty of this magnificent city. The saw- and 
Qfrist-mills here are numerous and extensive. 
The Driving Park, south of the town, Is an 
enclosure of seventy-five acres, and used for 
the purpose indicated by its name. Lakes 



164 To California and Alaska. 

Harriet and Calhoun also afford delightful 
drives, while Lake MInnetonka Is twelve miles 
to the west. 

At half-past twelve we returned to St. Paul, 
and at once busied ourselves in getting ready 
to start for Winnipeg. At this point the cars 
were all cleaned both inside and out, the 
trucks and running gear were overhauled, and 
a plentiful supply of provisions laid In, in fact 
every preparation was made for our second 
long trip to the Pacific coast. 

Promptly at three o'clock, with Mr. Mohler, 
the genial Assistant General Manager of the 
Manitoba road, we started northward. Mr. 
Hill, Mr. Clarke, and a group of other friends 
came down to the station and bade us good- 
by. The ride during the evening on our way 
north was exceedingly interesting ; we saw a 
new part of the road, and the scenery was 
somewhat different from what is seen on the 
western section. We found the track to be in 
excellent condition, and made very good time 
after we came out of St. Paul. 

As we entered the park region of Minnesota, 
we were continually passing lakes ; it is said 
that there are ten thousand of these within an 
area of one hundred scpiare miles. These 



From Si. Paul to Ma7iitoba. 165 

lakes form one of the most inviting and pictu- 
resque features of the State. They are found 
in every section, and are annually visited by 
large numbers of tourists and sportsmen. 
Sometimes they are little ponds a mile in cir- 
cumference, and again sheets of water forty or 
fifty miles in extent. Their shores are charm- 
ingly wooded, and frequently present fine 
pictures of cliff and headland. The waters are 
pure and transparent, and are filled with white- 
fish, trout, pike, pickerel, sucker, perch, and 
other finny inhabitants. The largest of these 
lakes are the Minnetonka, the Osakis or Spirit 
Lake, White Bear, Kandiyohi, Otter Tail, and 
Mille Lacs. 

This is a very fertile wheat country. Ro- 
mantic stories of the wonders of the land which 
now forms the State of Minnesota were told 
more than two centuries ago by the zealous 
French missionaries, who had, even at that 
remote period, pushed their adventures 
thither ; nevertheless, scarcely twenty years 
have elapsed since Immigration has earnestly 
set that way, creating populous towns and cul- 
tivated farms along the rivers and valleys be- 
fore occupied by the canoe and the wigwam of 
the savaee alone. Some Idea of the marvel- 



1 66 To California and Alaska. 

lous growth and development of this young 
State maybe formed from the fact that during 
the past decade the cultivated area of Minne- 
sota has increased nearly three hundred per 
cent., the population nearly two hundred and 
fifty per cent., and the value of manufactures 
about two hundred and fifty per cent. 

It seemed quite like home to get back to 
our train and spend our evenings in the buffet- 
car. The kindness and attention of the Mani- 
toba ofificials could scarcely be exceeded ; 
nothing was left undone to make our journey 
over their lines thoroughly comfortable and 
enjoyable. Their treatment reminded us of 
the generous hospitality we had received on 
the Southern Pacific more than any other 
experience we had met with since leaving the 
Pacific coast. The Manitoba people are cer- 
tainly to be congratulated on having such a 
superb piece of property, and beyond a doubt 
there is a truly wonderful future in store for 
It. Persons who are looking for homes in the 
West should not fail to consider carefully the 
advantaores to be derived from locatinof on 
the line of this road in Montana ; we were 
given to understand that the company offers 
extraordinary inducements to settlers. 



Frcnn St. Paul to Manitolnx. 



167 



We passed through Winnipeg" early on the 
morning- of May 15th. Before arriving, the 
writer had received a telegram from the 
American consul at that place inviting our 
party to stop over at that city and attend a 




Co tAj o-cr^ 



banquet which it was intended to give in our 
honor, and, at the same time, be presented to 
the Governor of Manitoba. We were obliofed 
to decline this flattering invitation, as we had 
arranged to stop at Winnipeg on our home- 



1 68 To Calif or 7iia a?id Alaska. 

ward journey, and besides it was the wish of 
Mr. Van Home that we should go directly 
through to the coast, and stop at different 
points on the Canadian Pacific road on our 
return. 

After leaving Winnipeg the country pre- 
sented the appearance of one broad, level plain 
— not a prairie, but a widening of the valleys 
of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, which unite 
at Winnipeg. There were large numbers of 
cattle to be seen, and, behind the trees, glimp- 
ses of well-tilled farms with comfortable farm- 
houses. The farmers here devote their ener- 
gies to dairy products and to cattle-breeding, 
for nearly one hundred miles we followed the 
Assiniboine River, which is marked by a belt 
of timber. Between Winnipeg and Brandon 
the stations are about eight miles apart, many 
of them representing lively and enterprising 
towns, and at nearly all of them are large grain 
elevators. We arrived at Brandon about ten 
o'clock on the morning of May 15th, and there 
bade good-by to Louis and Mr. Smith. 

Brandon has a population of five thousand 
four hundred, and is a divisional point on the 
railway. It is the largest grain market in 
Manitoba, and the distributing market for an 



From St. Paul to Manitoba. i6g 

extensive and well-settleel country. It has five 
grain elevators, a flouring-mill, and a saw-mill. 
A railway is being built from Brandon north- 
west to the Saskatchewan country. At this 
point, too, the standard time changes to 
"mountain time " — /. c, it is one hour slower. 
After changing engines, and having the 
train carefully exarnined, we proceeded on our 
westward journey, passing through a rolling 
prairie, and about one hundred miles from Bran- 
don we entered the Province of Assiniboia. 
We saw a great number of ponds and small 
hills covered with low brush, where it is said 
excellent sport can be had in the wild-fowl 
season. At Broadview, a pretty place, but a 
divisional point dependent upon the railway, 
we chantjed engines asfain. A short ride from 
here brought us to the celebrated Bell farm, 
which embraces one hundred square miles of 
land. The work upon this vast estate is per- 
formed with military precision and discipline. 
The furrows ploughed on this farm are usually 
four miles in length ; one furrow out and one 
back is considered half a day's work, and in 
the afternoon the same amount of labor is 
performed. The cottages on the farm are 
built of stone, and barns can be seen for miles 



I/O To California and Alaska. 

around ; the large collection of buildings at 
the headquarters near the railway station in- 
clude a church, a flour-mill, and, of course, a 
grain elevator ; and it may be said here that 
in this section an elevator will be found wher- 
ever there is wheat to be handled or stored. 

After passing Ou'Appelle we went for eight 
miles through a small-timbered country and 
then entered the great Regina Plain, which 
seems to be apparently boundless, extending 
in all directions ; the soil is very fertile to a 
great depth. Regina is the capital of Assini- 
boia, and the distributing point for the sec- 
tions of country lying far north and south. A 
railway runs from here northward, and will 
soon be extended to Edmonton, on the North 
Saskatchewan. The Executive Council of the 
Northwest Territories, which embrace the 
provinces of Assiniboia, Alberta, Saskatche- 
wan, and Athabasca, meets here. The Lieu- 
tenant-Governor's residence is at this place, 
and in the immediate neighborhood are the 
headquarters of the celebrated Northwest 
Mounted Police, whose buildings, includinof 
officers' quarters, drill hall, barracks, offices, 
store-houses, stables, etc., could be plainly 
seen from the train. The Northwest Mounted 



From St. Paul to A/anitoba. 



T7I 



Police Is a military organization numbering 
one thousand young and picked men, who are 
stationed over the Northwest for the purpose 
of watching the Indians, and preserving order 
generally. Moose Jaw, where we changed 
engines, is another divisional point. There 
we saw a number of Indians encamped on the 
banks of the river. The Indian name for 
this place is " The-creek-where-the-white-man- 
mended-the-cart-with-a-moose-jaw^-bone." 

After leaving Moose Jaw we noticed that 
the prairie was well marked in all directions 
with old buffalo-trails, and here and there the 
old wallows. This section was once the home 
of the buffalo ; we say was, for their number 
is rapidly decreasing. Not one was visible, 
for they quickly leave the land which is 
traversed by the train. Once, however, this 
country was blackened by their hordes as they 
wandered over it at their will, or marched 
from one feeding-ground to another. In 
making this remark we may say that they do 
not run in a mob as represented in some pic- 
tures, but move in single file, like policemen. 
We crossed hundreds of their deeply worn 
tracks leading straight away into the distance, 
and surely indicating that the slopes of the 



172 To Califor7iia aiid Alaska. 

Rockies are fitted for the purpose to which 
they are being apphed by the settler, viz., the 
rearing" and feeding of cattle. 

On this day we ran very fast, and by half- 
past seven o'clock had covered five hundred 
and ten miles, arriving at Swift Current, a 
divisional point where we changed engines. 
The country was exceedingly picturesque 
and much more thickly settled than we 
had been led to anticipate. While riding in 
the baggage-car we saw an antelope, at which 
we had four or five unsuccessful shots ; we 
also saw a bear and a number of wolves. 
Rush Lake is a favorite resort for water-fowl, 
swans, geese, duck, and pelican, which at times 
are seen here in countless numbers. Snipe, 
plover, and curlew, which are common enough 
upon the prairies, are found here in great 
abundance. 

We changed engines at Medicine Hat, sit- 
uated on the Saskatchewan River, which is 
spanned by a fine steel bridge. There are large 
repair-shops located at this place, which is a 
very important station on the line, and not far 
away are large coal-mines. The river is navi- 
gable for some distance above, and for eight 
hundred miles below. From Medicine Hat the 



From St. Paul to Manitoba. i 73 

ground creeps up towards the Rocky Moun- 
tains. 

About thirty-five miles from Medicine Hat 
is a small station called Langevin. When they 
were building the railroad here they wanted 
water, and after boring over a thousand feet, 
hoping to make an artesian well, the search 
for water was repaid by fire. At least, one day, 
the borers, holding a candle or striking a match 
close to the hole, were thrust back by a foun- 
tain of flame, which licked up the house in 
which their engine was at work, and there stood 
a pillar of fire in the midst of the green prai- 
rie. They had then reached a depth of nearly 
eleven hundred feet, and, passing through the 
huge coal-bed which lies beneath, had probably 
struck a fissure. At all events, up rushed the 
gas, which, becoming ignited, soon consumed 
their solitary shelter. Presently, however, af- 
ter some pains, the hole through which it issued 
was plugged and fitted with an iron pipe, gov- 
erned by a tap. This natural gas is now used 
by the railroad company to pump water for 
the engines. In August the prairie at this 
point is said to present a very fine appear- 
ance, resembling, at times, a billowy ocean of 
grass. 



I 74 ^0 California and Alaska. 

We arrived at Gleichen, a railway divisional 
point, near the foot of the Rockies, on the i6th 
of May, at about half-past two in the morning, 
We stopped there until four o'clock to seethe 
sun rise on the prairie, and it was one of the 
most imposing spectacles we had ever witnessed. 
As the orb of day rose over the horizon it ap- 
peared to be one mass of fire, while the moon 
was shining in the sky in the opposite direction. 
The mountains at first were invisible, but as 
the sun gradually came into view the reflection 
of its bright-red rays was thrown upon the 
snowy peaks of the Rockies in the distance. 
A few hours after we had witnessed this sight 
the mountains beo^an to be visible ; althougrh 
we had crossed the continent twice in the pre- 
ceding five weeks, it seemed as if this was the 
first view we had really had of the Rocky 
Mountains. Shortly after leaving Gleichen 
we came to Calgary, very charmingly located 
on the banks of the Bow River, and surrounded 
by most excellent farming lands. This is the 
most important, as well as the handsomest, 
town between Brandon and Vancouver, and is 
situated on a hill-girt plateau, overlooked by 
the white peaks of the Rockies ; it is the cen- 
tre of the trade of the great ranching country, 



From St. Paid to Jlfanitoba. i 75 

and the chief source of supply for the mining 
districts in the mountains beyond. The Hud- 
son Bay Company have here an important post, 
and it is one of the principal stations of the 
Northwest Mounted Police. Lumber is easily 
obtainable here, as it is floated down the Bow 
River from Banff. Parties oroino- into the 
extreme Northwest leave the train here, and 
after travelling from three to four hundred miles 
into the interior they find the largest and best 
horse-ranches in existence. One of eleven 
farms belonging to Sir John Lister Kaye is 
located at Calgary. Sir John married Miss 
Yznaga, of New York. As we passed through 
Calgary we saw his car standing on a side-track, 
he having recently come over on a visit from 
the other side. His eleven farms are located 
along the line of the road between Brandon 
and Calgary ; there are ten thousand acres in 
each of them, and they are all situated near 
towns, or the nucleus of towns, and will event- 
ually be exceedingly valuable. The land origi- 
nally cost a large English stock company, 
which Sir John represents, about $3 an acre. 
It is only a question of time before it will be 
worth from $20 to $25 an acre for farming pur- 
poses alone ; much of this property would bring 



I 76 To California and Alaska. 

that price to-day, owing to Its proximity to 
o-fowlno- towns. Sir John visits the farms twice 
a year and overlooks the work. 

After leaving Calgary and crossing the 
Bow, we ran through large ranches, and Im- 
mense herds of horses and cattle were to be 
seen on every side. At Morley, a station 
near the mountains, we stopped for about five 
minutes at a trader's store and picked out a 
number of horns, heads, etc., and a beautiful 
grizzly-bear skin. At Kananaskis the moun- 
tains appeared to be close at hand, and we 
entered the gap or pass through which the 
Bow River runs, and which we were to pass 
throueh, and soon crossed the Rockies. The 
scenery at this stage of the journey was grand 
and impressive. Above us, on both sides, we 
saw vertical walls rising to a dizzy height, 
snow-laden, seared and scarred by enormous 
gorges and promontories. At Canmore we 
changed engines, and here had an excellent 
view of the mountain representing in profile 
what are called the " Three Sisters." Follow- 
ing the Bow River we entered the Canadian 
National Park. We hauled up on a side-track 
and waited for the transcontinental train for 
the East to pass. The weather being quite 



Front St. Paul to Manitoba. 



177 



warm, we took the children out for an airing ; 
some of the party amused themselves by firing 
at a mark, while others made use of their fish- 
ing-rods in Bow River. 

The ride from here on through the moun- 
tains was grand beyond description. Each 
mountain as it loomed up into view seemed 
grander and more imposing than the last. The 




oA^ '/'<U'-<^.S*t— , 



scenery in this part of the country Is certainly 
more magnificent than anything we had 
dreamed of. As we neared the summit, an 
altitude of five thousand three hundred feet 
above the sea, Castle Mountain was seen 
ahead, a sheer precipice five thousand feet 
high, surmounted with turrets, bastions, and 
battlements complete, and partly snow-capped. 



I 78 To California and Alaska. 

At the summit we passed by a small lake 
called Summit Lake, in which were vividly 
reflected the surrounding mountains. About 
half a mile east of this point, the water, as it 
trickled down the mountain side and entered 
the ditch on the side of the road, could be 
seen to divide, part running- to the east and 
part to the west. From here our descent was 
rapid, as we crossed the deep gorge of the 
Kicking Horse. Here the scenery is sublime, 
even terrible. Looking off to the north you 
behold one of the grandest mountain valleys 
in the world, stretching far away in the dis- 
tance, with great white glacier-bound peaks on 
either side. On the left of the track you see 
the double head of Mount Stephen, eight 
thousand feet above the valley, and get an 
occasional glimpse of Cathedral Mountain. 

The grade from the summit is so steep and 
perilous at this point that a heavy consolida- 
tion engine was put on ahead of our loco- 
motive, and we were taken down at a speed 
of not over ten miles an hour. Every mile or 
so there is a switch to a track leading up the 
mountain side ; in case anything should occur 
to make the train unmanageable, a switchman 




MOUNT STEl'HEN, CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. 



From St. Paul to Manitoba. i 79 

stands ready to open the switch, stop the 
train in its downward course, and send it up- 
hill, where it would soon stop. At Field, at 
the foot of Mount Stephen, is an excellent 
hotel managed by the railway company. It 
is a favorite stopping-place for sportsmen. 
Rocky Mountain sheep, goat, and grizzly 
bears are to be found in large numbers in 
these mountains. We remained here a few 
moments, and the writer took a view of our 
train, with Mount Field in the distance ; an 
attempt was made to take it with Mount 
Stephen in the distance, but the latter acclivity 
was too hiofh. 

Leaving Field we crossed the Otter Tail 
River, then the Beaverfoot at the left. The 
Otter Tail Mountains rise abruptly to an 
immense height, while to the south, to an im- 
measurable distance, the Beaverfoot Mountains 
can be seen. The river and railway here enter 
the Kicking Horse Canyon, which rapidly 
deepens, the walls, an easy stone's throw from 
either side, rising vertically thousands of feet. 
The railway runs for twelve miles down this 
grand chasm, nowcrossing over to ledges cut out 
of the solid rock, twisting and turning in every 



i8o 



To California and Alaska. 



direction, while towering cliffs almost shut out 
the sunlight, and the roar of the river and cars 
is increased a hundredfold by the echoing 
walls, until the train, running out into a valley, 
suddenly emerges into daylight. 




CHAPTER XVII. 



MOUNTAINS AND GORGES ON THE CANADIAN 
PACIFIC RAILWAY. 

After we passed through the Kicking Horse 
Canyon and entered the valley we saw before 
us the Columbia River, a stream of ofreat 
width, moving northward, and obtained our 
first glimpse of the celebrated and long-looked- 
for Selkirks, which had so often been the sub- 
ject of our conversation, and which we had 
long been anxious to see. Our expectations 
in regard to their grandeur were not to be dis- 
appointed, for on the day we saw them they 
presented a noble appearance, as they seemed 
to rise from their forest-clad bases, and lifted 
their ice-capped heads high into the sky above. 
In form they are simply incomparable, and as 
they stood there in their matchless majesty, 
bathed in the glow and warmth of the after- 
noon sun, they called forth expressions of the 

iSi 



t82 To California and Alaska. 

highest admiration from every member of the 

party. 

The Canadian Pacific Railway is divided 
into four divisions — the Eastern, the Ontario 
and Atlantic, the Western, and the Pacific. 
At Donald, which is the beginning of the 
Pacific Division, we changed engines, and had 
the pleasure of meeting Mr. Marpole, the 
Division Superintendent of the road. Here, 
too, we were compelled to bid good-by to our 
friend Mr. Niblock, who had accompanied 
our party from Swift Current, and had 
kindly given us details and descriptions of 
the scenes through which we had passed, 
and which, in some measure, and it is feared 
but imperfectly, have been transferred to 
these pages. 

Donald is charmingly situated on the Co- 
lumbia River, within the very shadow of the 
Selkirks. The headquarters of the mountain 
division is located here, with the repair shops, 
etc. At this point the traveller changes to 
" Pacific time " — the time ofoes back one 
hour. 

Leaving Donald we crossed the Columbia 
River and entered the Selkirks, going up 
Beaver River and crossing it on the ricrht side 



Mountains and Gorces. 



i8 



of the mountain. The ascent was commenced 
at Bear Creek, one thousand feet above Beaver 
Riven At this point a magnificent view Is had 
of Beaver Valley, which extends off to the 
south until It Is finally lost in the mountains. 
From here a long line of the higher peaks of 

the Selkirks Is seen, cul- 
minating in that lofty 
mountain, Sir Donald. 
The railroad here as- 
cends the banks of Bear 



■^''^ 



-)f. 




Creek at a grade of one hundred and sixteen 
feet to the mile. 

The construction of this part of the road Is 
a triumph of engineering skill ; many narrow 
gorges in the mountain side, the pathways of 
avalanches, had to have the bridges over them 
protected. The most noticeable of these 



184 To California and Alaska. 

bridges was the Stony Creek bridge, the 
highest structure of the kind in the world, the 
distance below the rails being two hundred 
and ninety-five feet. We found, upon inquiry, 
that the great difficulties of the railway com- 
pany from snow in the winter season occur 
from Bear Creek and the Summit, and a simi- 
lar distance down on the other side. These 
bridges are protected by heavy logs, built in 
the shape of angular piers, and so placed in 
the gorge as to break the slide of snow and 
subdivide it ; in that way its force is lessened, 
and it is guided away under the bridges. The 
snow-sheds, which we entered not far from 
here, cost the company over $3,000,000. They 
are open on the side for the purpose of admit- 
ting the light, and are completely equipped 
with hose, etc., to be used in case of fire, and 
are guarded by men day and night. These 
sheds are built of heavy squared cedar timber, 
dove-tailed and bolted together, backed with 
rock, and fitted into the mountain side in such 
a manner as to bid defiance to the most terrific 
avalanche. 

As we ascend the mountain. Bear Creek is 
gradually compressed, by Mount Macdonald 
on the left and the Hermit on the rio-ht, into 



Mountains and Go7^o-cs. 



185 



one narrow deep ravine, which forms a con- 
tracted portal to Rogers' Pass at the summit. 
As our train emerged from the snow-sheds, 
Mount Macdonald was seen towering a mile 
and a quarter above the railway to an almost 
vertical height, its numberless pinnacles pier- 
cing the very zenith. As Mr. Van Home says 



^i.^^^^^-irrmm'^tvm*^AT#f'«^^^^^ 



Ai^A 




in describing the scene : " Its base is but a 
stone's throw distant, and it is so sheer, so 
bare and stupendous, and yet so near, that 
one is overawed by a sense of immensity and 
"^i&hty grandeur. This is the climax of 
mountain scenery. In passing before the 
face of this gigantic precipice, the line clings 



1 86 To California and Alaska. 

to the base of Hermit Mountain, and, as the 
station at Rogers' Pass is neared, its clustered 
spires appear, facing those of Mount Mac- 
donald, and nearly as high. These two match- 
less mountains were once apparently united, 
but some great convulsion of nature has split 
them asunder, leaving barely room for the 
railway." 

This pass was named after Major A. B. 
Rogers, by whose adventurous energy it was 
discovered in 1883 ; previous to that time no 
human foot had ever been planted on the sum- 
mit of this great central range. The pass lies be- 
tween two lines of huge snow-clad peaks. The 
pass on the north side forms a prodigious amphi- 
theatre, under whose parapet, seven or eight 
thousand feet above the valley, half a dozen 
glaciers may be seen at once, and so near that 
their shining green fissures are distinctly visible. 
The chanorine effects of lisfht and shadow on 
this brotherhood of peaks, of which The Her- 
mit and Macdonald are the chiefs, can never 
be forgotten by the fortunate traveller who 
has seen the sunset or the sunrise tinting their 
battlements, or has looked up from the green 
valley at a snow-storm, trailing its white cur- 
tain along their crests, with perchance a snowy 



Mountains and Gonres. 



187 



peak or two standing- serene above the harm- 
less cloud. The line of peaks connecting 
Macdonald with Sir Donald stretches to the 
south, their rear slopes having been visible In 
ascending the Beaver. This pass-valley has 
been reserved by the government as a national 
park. 










Leaving Selkirk Summit, the road com- 
mences to descend the mountains, and off 
to the right is seen, for many miles far be- 
low, the deep valley of the Illicilliwaet, which 
makes Its way westward, following a devious 



1 88 To California and Alaska. 

course through the mountains. The Hne of 
the railroad can easily be traced, until it finally 
reaches the bottom of the valley by a series 
of extraordinary curves, doubling upon itself 
again and again. Some views of this portion 
of the road are given. 

Directly ahead is seen the Great Glacier of 
the Selkirks, a vast plateau of sloping ice, 
extending as far into the mountains as the 
eye can reach. It is claimed by the Pacific 
Railway people that this glacier is as large as 
all the glaciers in Switzerland combined. 

We passed in front of the snow-sheds on an 
outer track, which is provided so that travel- 
lers may view the scenery in summer, and ar- 
rived at Glacier Station. The train remained 
at the station about half an hour, and, as we 
did'not have time enough to visit the Great 
Glacier, our party all left the train and took a 
stroll in the woods. The hotel here is a very 
handsome building, after the Swiss chalet 
style, and is owned and managed by the rail- 
road company. It serves not only as a dining- 
room for passengers, but also as a pleasant 
summer resort for sportsmen and tourists. 
Owing to the heavy grades here, and all 
throuijh the mountains, the dininij-cars are 




CANADIAN I'ALll'lL KAILWAV blAlluN AND 
MOUNT DONALD GLACIER. 



Mountains and Gorges. 1 89 

not run on the through trains, as they make 
the trains too heavy ; but the railroad com- 
pany have provided, at proper distances and 
at the most interesting and convenient places 
where the scenery is the finest, comfortable 
hotels, where passengers are able to get an 
excellent dinner, the trains stopping at such 
stations between one half and three quarters 
of an hour. Passengers are also allowed to 
remain two or three days at a station, or lie 
over for a train. The Great Glacier is about 
half a mile distant from the hotel, and only a 
hundred feet above the level of the building ; 
a good path has been made to it, so that its 
exploration is quite practicable and easy. The 
water for the fountain in front of the hotel is 
furnished by piping a stream coming out from 
the Great Glacier. This stream also furnishes 
water for the hotel and railroad. The aeent 
of the hotel informed us that game is very 
abundant in the mountains near by, the local- 
ity being especially celebrated for the big- 
horn sheep or mountain goat ; Canada bears 
are also killed here during the season. Elk, 
deer, and other game, however, are not found 
at quite such altitudes. A tame Canada bear 
was chained to the piazza of the hotel ; he 



190 To Califor7iia and Alaska. 

had been caueht in tlie mountains live months 
before we saw him, and his antics furnished 
considerable amusement to passengers during 
their stop at the station. 

Leaving the Glacier House, the road makes 
a rapid descent to the celebrated loop of the 
Canadian Pacific Railway. The line makes 
several startling curves and twists, crosses the 
valley, then doubles back to the right a mile 
or more to within a stone's throw of the track, 
then, sweeping around, crosses the valley again, 
and at last continues down the dell parallel 
with its former course. On looking back, the 
railroad track is seen on the mountain side, 
cutting two long parallel gashes in the moun- 
tain, one above the other ; far to the left, and 
still higher above on the other side of the val- 
ley, is seen the giant snow-shed, just below the 
summit near Rogers' Pass. 

At Illiciiliwaet we crossed for the first time 
the Illiciiliwaet River. The stream is very small 
here, but the water is exceedingly turbulent 
and of a pea-green color, caused by glacial mud, 
but it rapidly clarifies ; its source is said to be in 
the interior of the Great Glacier. The scenery 
is very wild, as the gorge through which the 
river runs is very deep at places, and filled 



Moinifaius and Gorges. 



191 



with the triirantic forest-trees for which British 
Columbia is justly noted. At Albert Canyon 
the train often runs alono- the brink of several 
remarkably deep fissures in the solid rock, 
the walls of which, on each side, rise to a 
height of one hundred feet, and at the top 
'c k are very heavily wooded. The 



y^-, -■. \ - 



I %^^^\ river is fully three hundrf^d feet 
■<''' " - i below the railway, and is com- 



•\ 










pressed into a boiling" flume not more than 
twenty feet wide. We had our train stop here 
for a few minutes, while we walked up and 
down the track viewing this truly remarkable 
freak of nature. The depth of the water 
must be very great, as the gorge through 
which it flows is very narrow, and the volume 
of water flowing through it is enormous. 



192 To California and Alaska. 

At Revelstoke, a railway divisional point 
on the Columbia River, we changed engines. 
We had seen the Columbia River on the other 
side of the Selkirks at Donald ; since then it 
had made a detour around the northern ex- 
tremity of the Selkirks, while the course of 
the railroad is directly across the mountains. 
At this point the river is not only larger, but 
is one thousand and fifty feet lower down, than 
at Donald. From this point it is navigable 
southward some two hundred miles, down to 
the United States boundary, where it expands 
into a number of lakes, around which there 
is said to be a beautiful and fertile country, 
where opportunities for sport are also unlim- 
ited. According to the railway officials this 
co.untry has been rarely visited by sportsmen ; 
miners are about the only people who have 
ever penetrated its unknown recesses. Koote- 
nay Lake and Valley are both reached from 
this point. 

After leaving Revelstoke we crossed the 
Columbia River upon a bridge about half a 
mile loner, and entered another ranore of moun- 
tains by Eagle Pass. The railway officials 
call particular attention to this pass, which is 
so deep-cut and direct that it seems to have 



Mountains and Gorges. 



193 



been purposely provided for the railway in 
compensation, perhaps, for the enormous diffi- 
culties the engineers had to overcome in the 
Rockies and the Selkirks. The highest point 
the railway is compelled to reach in crossing 
this range is only five hundred and twenty-five 
feet above the Columbia. At the summit four 







K- 



£j_^^"*^-6feil^'i 



beautiful lakes are passed in quick succcession, 
each one occupying the entire width of the 
valley, and forcing the railway on the moun- 
tain side in order to pass them. This valley 
is filled with a dense growth of immense trees, 
indigenous to this coast — spruce, Douglas fir, 
hemlock, cedar, balsam, and many other varie- 
ties. 



194 ^ California and Alaska. 

At Craigellachie, twenty-eight miles from 
Revelstoke, the last spike was driven in the 
Canadian Pacific Railway on the 7th of No- 
vember, 1885, the railroads from the east and 
west meeting here. At Sicamous, situated on 
the great Shuswap lakes, we reached what is 
said to be the centre of one of the best sport- 
ing regions on the Canadian Pacific line. 
Northward, within a day's journey, caribou 
are said to be very abundant. Within thirty 
miles to the south the deer-shooting is prob- 
abl)' unequalled on this continent, and the 
lakes are celebrated for their large trout. 

The London Ti7nes has well described this 
part of the line: "The Eagle River leads us 
down to the Great Shuswap Lake, so named 
from the Indian tribe that lived on its banks, 
and who still have a ' reserve ' there. This is a 
most remarkable body of water. It lies among 
the mountain ridges, and consequently extends 
its lonsf narrow arms alone the intervenincr 
valleys like a huge octopus in half-a-dozen di- 
rections. These arms are many miles long, 
and vary from a few hundred yards to two or 
three miles in breadth, and their high, bold 
shores, fringed by the little narrow beach of 
sand and pebbles, with alternating bays and 



Mountains and Gonres. 



195 



capes, give beautiful views. The railway crosses 
one of these arms by a drawbridge at Sica- 
mous Narrows, and then goes for a long dis- 
tance alone the southern shores of the lake, 
running entirely around the end of the Salmon 
arm." Sicamous is the station for the Spal- 
lumsheen mining district and other regions up 




J3(.ccorASiwo Vj\\ 



the river and around Okanagan Lake, where 
there is a large setlement ; steamboats ascend 
the river thirty miles, and a railway is pro- 
posed. " For fifty miles the line winds in and 
out the bending shores, while geese and ducks 
fly over the waters, and light and shadow play 



196 To California and Alaska. 

upon the opposite banks. This lake, with its 
bordering slopes, gives a fine reminder of Scot- 
tish scenery. The railway in getting around 
it leads at different and many times towards 
every one of the thirty-two points of the com- 
pass. Leaving the Salmon arm of the lake 
rather than go a circuitous course around the 
mountains to reach the southwestern arm, the 
line strikes through the forest over the top of 
the intervening ridge [Notch Hill]. We come 
out at some 600 feet elevation above this ' arm,' 
and oret a mas^nificent view across the lake, its 
windinof shores on both sides of the lono- and 
narrow sheet of water stretching far on either 
hand, with high mountain ridges for the oppo- 
site background. The line gradually runs 
downhill until it reaches the level of the water, 
but here it has passed the lake, which has nar- 
rowed into the [south branch of the] Thomp- 
son River. Then the valley broadens, and the 
eye, that has been so accustomed to rocks and 
roughness and the uninhabited desolation of 
the mountains, is gladdened by the sight of 
grass, fenced fields, growing crops, hay-stacks, 
and good farm-houses on the level surface, 
while herds of cattle, sheep, and horses roam 
over the valley and bordering hills in large 
numbers. This is a ranching country, extend- 



Mountains and Gorc^es. 



197 



ing far into the mountain valleys west of the 
Gold Range on both sides of the railway, and 
is one of the garden spots of British Columbia. 
. . . The people are comparatively old set- 
tlers, having come in from the Pacific coast, 
and it does one's heart oood, after havinof 
passed the rude little cabins and huts of the 
plains and mountains, to see their neat and 
trim cottaofes, with the evidences of thrift that 
are all around." 

Many of our party compared the scenery 
around Shuswap Lake to the country about 
Lake George, but the landscape in the former 
locality is on a very much larger and grander 
scale. 




CHAPTER XVIII. 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO VANCOUVER. 



We remained at Kamloops one night, that 
being a divisional point, and after changing 
engines early in the morning, we started for 
Vancouver. 

Kamloops now has a population of about 
one thousand. It was settled years ago as a 
Hudson Bay post, and is the principal town in 
the Thompson River valley, and the largest 
that the traveller passes through until he arrives 
at Vancouver. The Thompson River is seen 
here ; many steamboats ply up and down the 
stream, and we noticed a number of saw-mills 
along the shore. The Chinese are largely em- 
ployed here to do the rougher sort of work. 
The grazing on the hills in the background 
is said to be very fine. Cattle are left out-of- 
doors all winter, the climate being very much 
milder than it is two or three;: hundred miles 



I'l'oni Kmnloops to Vancottvc'7''. 1 99 

westward. Kamloops is the supply point for 
the large ranching and mineral country to the 
south, which is reached by stage lines running 
semi-weekly from the town into the districts 
beyond. 

Just after leaving Kamloops the river widens 
and forms Kamloops Lake. The railroad 
crosses to the southern shore, now entering a 
tunnel, now passing over a trestle, in a way to 
remind the traveller very much of the Dela- 
ware and Hudson road on the west shore of 
Lake Champlain. As the lake narrows into 
the river the railroad enters a series of tunnels. 
From this point to Port Moody on the Pacific 
coast the road was built by the Dominion Gov- 
ernment and transferred to the railway com- 
pany in 1886. While the road-bed of this sec- 
tion is very well built, the sides and slopes of the 
same are not fully protected, and the company 
are constantly troubled with landslides from 
above, and the sinking of the track from below, 
owing to the "quicksandy" nature of the soil. 
The Canadian Pacific Railway Company claim 
a million dollars or more from the gfovernment 
in order to make this portion of the road equal 
to the rest of their line. It certainly did ap- 
pear to our party as a very inferior kind of 



200 To California and Alaska. 

work compared with what we had seen on the 
part of the line we had travelled over. The 
scenery on this portion of the road and along 
the Thompson River is at first very wild and 
picturesque, but soon becomes exceedingly un- 
interesting. There is very little vegetation to 
be seen on either side of the river — nothing, 
in fact, but round-topped, treeless, and water- 
cut hills, the color of which varies from the 
richest yellow to a reddish-gray, or iron-ore, 
with here and there a few masses of olive-green 
color, caused by the scanty vegetation. Shortly 
after leaving Kamloops Lake, as the train went 
round a curve, where the bank overhung the 
track, and we were all standing on the plat- 
form, we were suddenly startled by a large 
bird which alighted near to us, and settled on 
the railing of the platform. We were so sur- 
prised that, for a few moments, we did not 
realize what it was ; it proved to be a large 
partridge. Had any of us been quick enough 
we might have caught it without any trouble ; 
as it was, when we attempted to catch it, it 
flew off into the brush. We stopped the train, 
and getting our shot-guns started in pursuit, 
thinkinor that there mieht be other came in the 
neighborhood, which would have proved a very 



From Kami oops to l^ancouva". 201 

palatable addition to our larder. We had no 
success, however, though the little incident 
afforded us considerable diversion. 

At Lytton, at the confluence of the Thomp- 
son and Fraser rivers, the scenery is very 
grand. Six miles below here our train crossed 
the Fraser River, a steel cantilever bridge 
being at that point. The scenery here be- 
came wilder as the gorge deepened and the 
size of the river increased. The banks were 
steep and rugged, their tops covered with a 
dense growth of trees. The old government 
road continues along the Fraser River, twist- 
ing and turning about, now passing under the 
railroad, then along by its side, sometimes 
many hundred feet above the road until, at 
Cisco, it is forced to the height of over one 
thousand feet above the river. It is said that 
the width of the road here is not sufficient 
to allow two teams to pass, and that it is held 
in place by iron rods, or bridge-trusses, in- 
serted in the mountain side. 

Mr. Marpole informed us that it was not 
uncommon to see Indians on the projecting 
rocks down at the water's edge spearing 
salmon, or capturing them with scoop-nets ; 
the salmon are dried on poles and sold to 



202 To Califoi'uia and Alaska. 

Chinamen. Along the river on the sandy 
channel piers Chinamen and Indians are occa- 
sionally seen washing for gold, and many 
of the inhabitants on the banks of the stream 
eain their subsistence from what little ijold 
they find in washing the gravel. They are a 
lazy, thriftless class of people, washing for 
gold two or three days in the week, and 
living on the proceeds for the remainder of 
the time. 

This road was originally built by the gov- 
ernment of Columbia for the convenience of 
miners above Lytton, where enormous quanti- 
ties of gold were originally taken out by 
washing. At North Bend we stopped to 
change engines, and all the party got off the 
train and visited the hotel, which is owned by 
the railroad company ; here we saw another 
tame brown Canadian bear, which afforded 
the children great amusement. During the 
day we stopped the train at many points 
along the Fraser River, where the line crosses 
large canyons, on trestles. The scenery from 
North Bend to Yale, twenty-six miles, has 
been described as not only intensely inter- 
esting, but startling, even " ferocious." The 
volume of water in the river being so large, 



From Kamloops to J \incouvcr. 



203 



and the walls at the sides comin<r out close 
together, the stream is compressed Into a 
roaring torrent. 

At Spuzzum the government road crosses 
the chasm by a suspension bridge, at the side 










ot the railway 
bridge, and 
keeps close to 
it all the way 
to Yale. Here 



the railroad runs through a series of five or 
six tunnels. 

It should be stated that this government 
road has been rendered almost absolutely 
valueless for wagons, from the fact that, 
wherever the railroad crosses it, no means 
have been provided for passing the road, 
either above or around the railway ; pack- 
trains can now cross, but they are compelled 



204 To Califoj'uia and Alaska. 

to climb steep trails in order to get around 
these places. 

Yale is at the head of navigation on the 
Fraser River. At New Westminster Junction 
there is a branch line to the important town of 
New Westminster, a town of some five thou- 
sand inhabitants, on the Fraser River, about 
eight miles distant. When we passed through 
here, this road was being constructed to Seattle, 
and it was expected that before long through 
connection by rail could be had with that town. 
' We reached Port Mood)-, at the head of 
Burrard Inlet, about two o'clock on the after- 
noon of May 17th. At one time this was the 
last station of the railroad, and, on that account, 
was quite a settlement ; but it is now very 
much dilapidated and run down, owing to the 
terminus havingf been removed to Vancouver. 
As the railroad sweeps down here to the shore, 
we could once more see the Pacific coast and 
salt water, an outlook which was truly refresh- 
ing after such a continuous stretch of mountain 
scenery. Snow-tipped mountains were to be 
seen on the other side of the inlet, beautiful 
in outline and color, especially so on the after- 
noon when we saw them in the sunlight. Here 
and there, at intervals, on the opposite coast, 



Ftow KiiDiIoops to ]\incoiLver. 205 



saw-mills and villages were to be seen. At 
one or two of the villages there were ocean 
steam-ships at the wharves being loaded with 



.^-^j 



1^ 




2>v 



^%ll?^-<v^^>> 







"~7~Zc7Z iz.e.1 






C7??? 



cX- 



the celebrated Douglas fir, which is sent to all 
parts of the world. These trees are found 
twenty, thirty, and even forty feet in circum- 
ference. 

Our speed on this particular day was neces- 
sarily slow, owing to the fact that this section 
of the road is considered very dangerous, and 



3o6 To CalifoTiiia and Alaska. 

Is about the only part on which any accidents 
ever occur ; at one moment the road-bed over- 
hanes the river, on trestle-work or embankment, 
and the next moment enters a short tunnel, 
only to reappear again on another trestle. 

After our arrival at Vancouver, Mr. Harry 
Abbott, the General Superintendent of the 
western end of the road, called upon us with 
his wife, and extended to us the courtesies of 
the road at this terminus. 

On the morning after our arrival we took 
a carriap'e and drove over the town, croinof 
through the new park, which promises some 
day to be one of the wonders of the coast. 
The trees here are enormous, and the growth 
might be called a primeval forest, which it 
really is, with the underbrush taken out. 

Vancouver, the Pacific terminus of the rail- 
way, is comparatively a new town, and reminds 
one of the growth of such Western towns as 
Duluth or Great Falls. Until May, 1886, its 
present site was covered with a dense forest. 
The following July a severe fire swept away 
every house in the place but one ; all the build- 
ings now standing have been erected since that 
date. The hotels, business blocks, and resi- 
dences are of the most approved architecture, 




ROADWAY IN STANLKY PARK, VANCOUVER. 



From Kami oops to V^aucouver. 207 

and would be a credit to any city in the United 
States. Large and extensive wharves have 
been built by the railroad company and private 
corporations, and the town promises to de- 
velop into one of the future cities of the 
Pacific coast. The paved streets are well laid 
out, and lighted with electricity. A plentiful 
supply of pure water is brought through large 
pipes, laid across the harbor, from a spring in 
the mountains on the other side of the sound. 
The country to the south of Vancouver has 
many fine farms, and is said to be well adapted 
to fruit-growing. Many parties remain here 
for the shootinof and fishinof, both of which are 
excellent, and can be had by making short ex- 
cursions into the mountains towards the north. 
A reo^ular line of steamers leaves Vancouver 
every day for Victoria, fortnightly for Japan, 
Yokohama, and Hong-Kong, and twice a week 
for Seattle, Tacoma, and other Puget Sound 
ports. The city is beautifully located on a 
slight eminence, overlooking the sound, with 
Burrard Inlet on the north. 

About one o'clock on the afternoon of May 
1 8th, the Islajidcr, which had been engaged 
for our party, steamed into the harbor, having 
just come from Victoria in the morning. This 



2o8 To California and Alaska. 

vessel was a twin propeller boat, two hundred 
and forty feet In length, forty-two feet beam, 
and sixteen feet draught, with tremendous 
power, and was capable of making about nine- 
teen miles an hour. Captain John Irving, the 
manager of the line, had charge of the vessel, 
and our pilot for Alaskan waters was the 
veteran Captain Carroll, the most celebrated 
pilot on the Pacific coast, who was one of the 
pioneers, and had made one hundred and 
seventy trips to Alaska. He had become 
very wealthy, and was largely interested in 
mines, etc. We had also a very old pilot, an 
employe of the steamship company ; from the 
nautical point of view we considered ourselves 
very well provided for. The accommodations 
for passengers were ample ; the boat had about 
one hundred state-rooms, the manager's room 
being large and roomy, and the other apart- 
ments very comfortable. 

The greater part of the afternoon was occu- 
pied in placing our baggage aboard and in 
getting thoroughly and comfortably settled. 
About half-past four o'clock we cast off from 
the wharf and started on our trip to Alaska. 
The weather was all that could be desired, 
neither too warm nor too cold, bright and 



Fro7n Kamloops to J 'aucozvver. 



209 



sunny, and a fair omen of the journey we were 
about to make. 

We took the cooks and stewards with us, 
and left the rest of the crew on the train. 
The weather was so fme that we were able to 
sit on the upper deck until dinner-time and at 
ten o'clock at nif^ht it was licrht enouorh for us 
to read a newspaper on deck. The view of 
Mount Baker, with its snow-capped peak, In 

the distance about sunset, was magnificent. 

14 





CHAPTER XIX. 



IN ALASKAN WATERS. 



On the night of the i8th we sailed through 
Discovery Passage, where at places there is 
hardly room for two steamers to pass each 
other, and mountains rise up abruptly on each 
side. At half-past nine on the morning of the 
19th we reached Alert Bay, and from there 
steamed on northward, passing the north end 
of Vancouver Island, out into Queen Charlotte 
Sound. Although the wind was blowing 
lightly at the time there was quite a heavy 
swell ; it took us only two hours, however, to 
ofo across. We then entered Fitzhuoh Sound, 
passing Calvert Island and Hunt Islands. On 
reaching the end of the channel we left Burke 
Channel on our right, and went through the 
Lama Passage, passing between Campbell and 
Lendenny Islands, where the scenery was very 
fine. 



In Alaskan Waters. 211 

About a quarter before six we arrived at 
Bella Bella and anchored for the night ; this 
is a small fishing village on Campbell Island. 
The scenery here was remarkably grand and 
bold, the passage, in many places, not being 
an eighth of a mile wide, though the water 
reaches a depth of from one hundred and 
thirty-one to one hundred and fifty fathoms. 
After supper one of the quarter boats was 
lowered and Dr. McLane, with two or three 
of our party, went ashore to call on the agent 
of the Hudson Bay Company and the mis- 
sionary. We found that the agent was absent 
at Vancouver and the missionary was making 
a visit to the interior. Bella Bella consists of 
some forty or fifty log-huts occupied by In- 
dians, who gain their subsistence principally 
by fishing. We were informed that most 
of the male inhabitants were at work at the 
canneries, and there were not over five or six 
men remaining in the villaee. 

While crossino- Milbank Sound the next 
morning, we felt the motion of the sea quite 
considerably. It commenced raining in the 
morning and rained nearly all day. Passing 
north of Milbank Sound we took the western 
passage between Swindle and Cone islands. 



2 12 To Califor7iia and Alaska. 

passing- nearly through Tohnine Channel, 
Graham Reach, Fraser Reach, leaving Prin- 
cess Royal Island on our left. Nearly all the 
morning, on our right, we passed large water 
passages, or reaches, up which we could look 
many miles and see that they were lined on 
either side by very high and precipitous moun- 
tains, perhaps not a quarter of a mile apart. 
All the information the captain could give us 
about these narrow waters was that they were 
unexplored, and there was no telling how far 
inland they might extend. 

Passing through McKay Reach, we entered 
Wrieht Sound. On our riofht were Douo-las 
Channel and Verney Passage ; both these 
waters have been somewhat explored, and ex- 
tend for many miles back into the country. 
The mountains on both sides of these passages 
are, according to the government chart, from 
three to five thousand feet high, but, in point 
of fact, many of these waters have not been 
explored to any great distance. 

Sailing from Wright Sound and going north, 
we passed through Grenville Channel, leaving 
Pitt Island on our left and the Countess of 
Dufferin ranee of mountains on our ritrht. 
The mountains on each side of this channel 



IiL Alaskan IVaters. 2 1 3 

are about three thousand feet high, and are 
very heavily timbered with evergreens. The 
scenery was picturesque in the extreme. 

In the afternoon we passed through the 
Arthur Passage (Kennedy Island being on our 
right), and through Chatham Sound. As we 
passed through the sound the weather com- 
menced to clear, and before long the sun came 
out. Bearing to our right we arrived at Port 
Simpson at half-past six o'clock. This is a 
Hudson Bay post, the last English post before 
entering Alaska, and we found it to be one of 
the most interesting we had seen for some time. 
The Hudson Bay Company's agent, whom we 
met, was a very genial person ; he invited us 
up to the company's store, and showed us all 
over the premises. The main store is built of 
logs, and was constructed some sixty years 
ago ; part of the old stockade is still standing, 
and on one corner of it, up in the air, is one of 
the old turrets, the sides havingf slits for mus- 
ketry, which were to be used by the occupants 
to defend themselves against the Indians. 
The old powder magazine was built of stone, 
and is now used by the Hudson Bay officer for 
a dairy. 

The aofent had all sorts of eoods in his 



2 14 -^ California and Alaska. 

store. We bought some Winchester rifle car- 
tridp^es, of which we were a Httle short, and 
some very old-fashioned spoons carved out of 
horn. We looked over a stock of skins and 
furs, but did not buy any. The steward took 
this opportunity to lay in a supply of fresh 
milk and eggs. 

The agent told us that the climate in this 
section is exceedingly agreeable throughout 
the year, although the place is in the latitude 
of 54° 35' ; he said that the flowers in his gar- 
den blossomed in January. Everything sur- 
rounding the company's store was in the most 
admirable order ; the stockade and buildings 
were all neatly whitewashed, the grass care- 
fully trimmed, and the walks free from weeds. 
At onetime Port Simpson was one of the most 
important posts of the Hudson Bay Company, 
but of late years it has become a very insignifi- 
cant place. The Indian village outside of the 
walls of the post is very small, and in a very 
poor and needy condition. 

The prices paid for furs by the Hudson Bay 
Company are, of course, higher now than they 
were some twenty or thirty years ago, and the 
profits on them are very much less. On the 
other hand, it must be taken into considera- 



In Alaskan Waters. 2 1 5 

tion that it was formerly necessary to keep at 
least six or ten armed men here all the time to 
defend the post against the Indians ; and fur- 
ther, that supplies can be landed here now at 
one tenth of the price charged for them thirty 
years ago. The agent told us that he thought 
the company made as much out of the post as 
formerly, owing to the decreased cost of run- 
ning the station, which he believed more than 
offset the lower price obtained for the furs. 

About half-past three o'clock on the morn- 
ing of May 2ist we left Port Simpson and 
entered upon the Alaskan Territory, passing 
on our left Annette and Gravina islands. In 
the afternoon we entered Wrangel Narrows, 
leaving on our right, some thirty miles away, 
Fort Wrangel, on Wrangel Island. This was 
one of the prettiest spots we had yet seen. 
The hills on either side of the Narrows were 
not so remarkably high, but the shores were 
exceedingly picturesque, and looked as though 
they were covered with a great deal of vegeta- 
tion. There is thick, rich, green grass on both 
sides, above high-water mark. We saw here 
a great many ducks and geese, and a countless 
number of eagles. After passing through 
Wrangel Narrows, we entered Frederick 



2 1 6 To California and Alaska. 

Sound, a beautiful sheet of water, and on our 
right saw, for the first time, Patterson's Glacier, 
and also a large amount of floating ice. It 
was about dark when we passed this glacier. 
No one point in all our journey through this 
Sitkan Archipelago seemed invested by nature 
with so much grandeur as Prince Frederick 
Sound. Here the mountains of the mainland 
run down abruptly to the water. The scenery 
in this wilderness of Lower Alaska was cer- 
tainly imique and unrivalled. At one time our 
ship was in a lake, at another in a river, and 
then in a canal, with walls toweringf above us 
right and left to an almost dizzy height, and 
channels running off into unknown and unex- 
plored regions. And yet, upon this vast ex- 
panse of water a sail or boat rarely is seen. 
There is a deathly stillness, interrupted now 
and then by the screech of an eagle, or the 
flight of ducks frightened at the approach of 
the vessel. At the head of these channels are 
countless ravines and canyons filled with gla- 
ciers, from which pieces are constantly broken 
every day. It is estimated that there are five 
thousand individual elaciers in Alaska, from 
which, constantly, pieces are broken and 
silently find their way down to the sea. 



In Alaskan Waters. 217 

On the morning of May 2 2d we woke as 
the boat was about entering Peril Straits, an 
intricate part of the waters to navigate, but 
pretty well buoyed out. The scenery from 
here to Sitka, where we arrived about half-past 
nine o'clock in the morning, was exceedingly 
fine. This place, the capital of Alaska, is an 
old Russian settlement, and was, at one time, 
a prosperous and lively town ; at present it has 
the appearance of a half-sleepy, indolent vil- 
lage, giving one the impression of general 
decay. As the boat nears the wharf a cluster 
of buildings is seen to the ritrht ; the buildino-s 
are the Castle, the Custom-house, and Bar- 
racks. This Castle of Barranore was once 
celebrated for the lavish hospitality of its 
occupants, — elegant dinners and extravagant 
balls ; to-day it is a dilapidated-looking build- 
ing of large size. Notwithstanding its abso- 
lute neglect and abandonment to decay and 
ruin, it was so substantially built that it will 
be years before it will disappear entirely. All 
Americans who travel in this section wonder 
why our government does not put it in repair, 
and use it for the government headquarters, as 
such a building is badly needed. The Castle 
is one hundred and forty by seventy feet, and 



21 8 To Calif oTfiia and Alaska. 

is three stories high. As a rule, the United 
States keeps a war vessel here during the 
summer months ; at the time of our visit she 
was at Mare Island Navy Yard undergoing 
repairs, and Lieutenant Turner was in charge 
of the forty marines, who were temporarily 
located in the old barracks. 

Alaska has been in the possession of the 
United States since October i8, 1867. The 
country was bought through negotiations car- 
ried on by William H. Seward, who was at 
that time Secretary of State. The wits of the 
period made merry over the acquisition, just 
as wits in former days made merry over our 
acquisition of Louisiana and Florida. Secre- 
tary Seward justified his action on the ground 
of the new country's natural wealth in timber, 
fisheries, minerals, and fur-bearing animals ; 
also on the ground that it would neutralize the 
power of Great Britain in the North Pacific 
and render the annexation of British Columbia 
possible in the future. " Alaska," said he, 
" may not be so valuable as we deem it ; but 
you cannot deny the value of the gold regions 
of the Cariboo country and Fraser River, the 
coal mines of Vancouver's and Queen Char- 
lotte's islands, and the unrestricted possession 



In Alaskan Waters. 219 

of the magnificent Straits of Fuca. All these, 
following' manifest destiny, will be ours in 
time ; besides," said he, " we owe a deep debt 
of gratitude to Russia for her unvarying friend- 
ship through long years, and for her kindly 
sympathy during the sorest of our national 
trials — the ereat rebellion." The sum of 
$7,200,000 was paid for Alaska, and It is 
estimated that the few mines near Juneau are 
worth more than that sum to-day. 

The Governer of Alaska, Hon. A. P. Swine- 
ford, has made interesting reports in regard to 
the resources and prospects of this new and 
remarkable country. He says that two years 
ago the population was estimated at about fifty 
thousand inhabitants ; of this number thirty- 
five thousand were classed as wholly uncivilized. 
Very little has been accomplished in the way of 
agricultural development. Here and there a 
ranch has been started for the erowinsf of root- 
crops, while in nearly all the settlements vege- 
table gardens are maintained with very little 
labor. There are larg^e areas of excellent 
grazing lands in the Territory, but very little 
has been done In the way of stock-raising. At 
nearly all the settlements on the Kodiak 
Islands and In Cook's Inlet white and creole 



2 20 To California and Alaska. 

people keep cows and make their own butter ; 
the Governor sees no reason, except the ab- 
sence of a market, why Alaska might not rival 
Montana or Wyoming in the raising of stock. 
The great island of Kodiak comprises a geo- 
graphical area of about five thousand square 
miles. Considerable progress has been made 
in the development of the mineral resources of 
the Territory. There is a large stamp-mill on 
Douglas Island, the largest j^lant of the kind 
In the world, its output of gold bullion being 
estimated at not less than $150,000 per month. 
New discoveries of valuable mines are con- 
stantly being made, especially in Southeastern 
Alaska. 

It is pretty well established that other min- 
erals besides gold and silver are abundant in 
various parts of the Territory, A large vein 
of very rich copper ore has been found on 
Kodiak Island, and large bodies of the same 
metal in its native state are known to exist on 
Copper River. Petroleum is found in differ- 
ent sections, while at Cape Prince of Wales, 
the most westerly point of the continent, there 
is a plentiful supply of graphite in the adjoin- 
ing mountains. Amber exists in large quanti- 
ties, and sulphur is found in connection with 



/;/. Alaskan ]Vaters. 221 

the numerous volcanic peaks and extinct 
craters. Discoveries of iron, cinnabar, and 
mica are recorded. Marble abounds ; there is 
every evidence of the existence of valuable 
slate beds ; fire-clay is found in connection 
with the coal seams ; and kaolin is among the 
discoveries reported. There is said to be coal 
enough in Alaska, and of the very best quality, 
to supply the \Yants of the whole of the Pacific 
slope for centuries, and it is prophesied that 
the time will soon come when the product of 
her mines will find other and wider markets 
than those of the Pacific coast alone. There 
are vast forests of valuable timber in the back 
country, but there are not more than half-a- 
dozen saw-mills engaged in cutting lumber, and 
they only partially supply the local demand. 

The fisheries of Alaska form an important 
industry. There are seventeen salmon can- 
neries In operation, some of them very large 
establishments, and nearly all having salting 
houses in connection. The codfishing fleet is 
steadily increasing, and halibut is being sent 
to Eastern cities in refrigerator cars. In 1888 
twelve thousand tons of salmon were pre- 
pared for the market. The fur trade is also 
an important industry. 



222 



To California and Alaska. 



There are thirteen public schools in the 
Territory, located respectively at the principal 
towns, and the Industrial Training School at 
Sitka is in a very flourishing condition, though 
not accomplishing, it is said, all that might 
reasonably be expected ; the boys are taught 
carpentry and cabinet-, boot-, and shoe-making, 
while the girls are instructed in housekeeping, 
sewine, knittings cookino- and dressmaking;-. 

The average rainfall in Sitka and its imme- 
diate neighborhood is about forty-eight inches ; 
about one third of the year there is no rain. 
The weather is not very cold in winter, the 
thermometer rarely reaching zero on the coast. 
The mean temperature for the year is about 
forty-four degrees. January and February have 
the lowest record — 29° 2' ; August highest — 
56° 4'. Ice rarely forms to a thickness of six 
inches, and yet in summer the weather is not 
warm enough to ripen any grain. The months 
of June and July are generally clear, dry, and 
free from rain. The fall and spring are the 
rainy seasons. The comparatively mild tem- 
perature in this high latitude is accounted for 
by the existence of a great current of warm 
water, resembling our Gulf Stream, which, 
sweeping along the coasts of Japan and Asia 



In Alaskan Waters. 223 

to the northeast, crosses the Pacific, and 
washes the northwest coast of America as far 
down as the Bay of Panama, where It again 
diverges to the westward and forms the ereat 
equatorial current of the Pacific. 

At the head of Cross Sound are five lar^e 
glaciers that are formed far back In the coun- 
try on the slopes of Mount Falrweather and 
Mount Crillon, the former, 14,708 feet high, 
the latter 13,400. 

The remarkable Indentation and almost end- 
less length of this coast, the thousand Islands, 
the Immense number of mountains, large and 
small, the maze of rivers through which the 
traveller passes, make this journey incom- 
parable with any other which could be made. 
We had often heard about the wonders of a 
trip to Alaska, but were more than surprised 
at the remarkable character of the scenery we 
saw, especially the water-ways, which the writer 
has deemed worthy of being so fully described. 



CHAPTER XX. 



IN ALASKAN WATERS { CoiicliukdJ. 

Protjai'-ly the most interesting feature of 
life in the vicinity of Sitka is the Indian vil- 
lage a short distance outside of the town ; 
Lieutenant J, E. Turner was kind enough to 
show our party through this settlement, which 
was certainly very unique. 

After enterinof an old oate we turned to the 

o to 

left and passed in front of a long row of cheaply 
built houses fronting on the beach, the canoes 
and fishing paraphernalia belonging to each hut 
being drawn up on the beach in front thereof. 
Each house is numbered, and the village is 
under the strict surveillance of an officer of 
the Navy. As we had found at Bella Bella, 
most of the Indians were off fishing or en- 
gaged in work at the canneries ; in the winter, 
when they are all at home, the population 
numbers about eight hundred, and the town 
then presents quite a lively appearance. 

224 



In Alaskan Waters. 



225 



It may be well to mention here a certain 
peculiar kind of fish which is quite plentiful 
in Alaskan waters ; it is called the candle-fish, 
and is about the size of a smelt, which it re- 
sembles in appearance, being small and having 




i^ 






bright silvery skin and scales. It is caught 
by the Indians on bright moonlight nights. 
They use for this purpose a large rake, some 
six or seven feet loner, with teeth of bone or 
sharp-pointed nails. This rake has a handle, 
and while one Indian paddles the canoe close 
to the " shoal of fish," the other sweeps the 
rake through the dense mass, bringing up gen- 
15 



226 To Califoriiia and Alaska. 

erally three or four fish impaled on each tooth 
of the rake. The canoes are soon filled, and 
the contents being taken on shore, the squaws 
proceed to skewer the fish on long sticks, 
passing these sticks through the eyes until 
each one has as many as it will hold, when 
the whole are suspended in the thick, smoky 
atmosphere at the top of the hut, which dries 
and preserves the fish without salt, which is 
never used by the Indians. 

When dry, the candle-fish are carefully 
packed away in boxes of dried bark. The 
traders of Port Simpson catch these fish in 
nets, salt and dry them in the usual manner 
practised by the whites ; and when this is 
properly done no fish are more delicious than 
the candle-fish, the only trouble being that 
they are so rich that one soon tires of them. 

To use them as candles, a piece of wick or 
dried pith is passed through the fish with a bod- 
kin of hard wood, and the tail being inserted in 
a cleft-stick or junk-bottle, the wick is lighted. 
The fish burns with a clear, steady flame. 

In point of wealth and power, after a few 
Indian chiefs, the most important person in 
the villasfe is Mrs. Tom, a woman of orreat im- 
portance and influence among the natives. 




INDIAN chief's GRAVE, ALASKA. 



Ill Alaskan Waters. 227 

She is worth about $40,000, and, in that sec- 
tion of the country at least, is considered a 
wealthy woman. We made her a visit, and 
found her not only willing to exhibit to us her 
large collection of curiosities, but anxious to 
part with many of them for a proper pecuniary 
consideration. Her house consists of three 
rooms, one of them very large. At the time 
Lieutenant Turner and our party made our 
visit she was not presentable, but called out 
to us that we should amuse ourselves by look- 
ing over her furs until she could prepare her 
toilet. She was not long in making her ap- 
pearance, when she opened her trunks, searched 
in various recesses, and brought forth any num- 
ber of trinkets and curious articles, which she 
offered for sale. We made a number of pur- 
chases, including some very fine otter skins 
and a Chilcot blanket. We were told that she 
left the settlement for the Aleutian Islands 
every year in a large boat well stocked with 
provisions and articles that she knows will be 
appreciated by the Indians ; these she trades 
away for rich furs and curiosities which she 
knows she can readily sell to the Americans 
who visit Sitka. These journeys sometimes 
keep her away for three months at a time. 



228 To Califomiia and Alaska. 

Mrs. Tom's ideas of matrimony are cer- 
tainly very liberal ; she has almost any number 
of husbands, but rarely keeps one over two 
or three years, when she discharges him and 
purchases a new one. After we had made the 
purchases from her we requested her to send 
the articles to the steamer and we would pay 
the money to the husband who brought the 
package. She evidently had a very pessimistic 
opinion of man's honesty, for she quickly re- 
plied that, as the amount due was quite a large 
sum, she wished, if we had no objections, that 
we would pay her " cash down " on the spot, 
saying that she would feel easier than if she 
had to wait for one of her husbands to bring 
it back to her. 

While this book is going through the press 
the writer has noticed some curious statements 
in a New York journal on the polyandrous 
women of Alaska. A member of an expedi- 
tion that is surveying the boundary line 
between Alaska and Canada says that he has 
met tribes on the upper Yukon River where 
it is not uncommon for the women to have 
two or more husbands. This custom also 
prevails in Eastern Thibet and among the 
Mongols of the Tsaidam. It is accounted for 



Ill Alaskan Waters, 



229 



by the fact that, on account of the barren 
nature of the soil and the general poverty 
of the people the brothers in a family will 
agree to have only one wife among them ; 
while one brother is absent on a trading jour- 
ney another remains at home and looks after 
the live stock, the "mutual wife" manaeine 
the household. Amoncr the Alaskan Eskimo 
a man is entitled to as many wives as he can 
get, but in parts of the country where women 
are scarce two or more men live in a hut with 
one woman. It is stated that polygamy is 
only practised among rich and prosperous 
savages, while polyandry is practised by the 
poorer peoples, from necessity rather than 
choice. 

After lunch we stopped a few moments 
at Lieutenant Turner's rooms and then visited 
the Presbyterian Mission, where we saw the 
Shepard workshop, established by Mr. and 
Mrs. Shepard when they were here two years 
aofo. We were much interested in the old 
Greek church. It is a rather gaudily deco- 
rated building, painted in green and gold 
after the Eastern fashion, w^ith magnificent 
regalia and appointments for its rather lengthy 
but imposing service. Some of the old houses 



230 To California and Alaska. 

presented a very quaint and time-worn ap- 
pearance, being probably some hundreds of 
years old. While we were here the boys 
of the party had very good luck fishing off 
the bows of the boat, catching some very fine 
black bass and halibut. The fishing and deer- 
shooting in this vicinity are said to be very 
good. 

The Russian-American Company, once such 
an important factor in Alaskan life, com- 
menced its existence in 1799 and was formed 
on the same plan as the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany ; a body of Russian traders and mer- 
chants, however, had existed long before that 
date. Between 181 2 and 1841 the Russians 
had settlements in California, at Ross and 
Bodega, and they named the principal stream 
in that part of the country Russian River. 
In the latter year Captain Sutter, the famous 
Californian, purchased the company's settle- 
ment for $30,000, which was finally abandoned 
when it was found more convenient to pur- 
chase from the Hudson Bay Company on 
Vancouver Island. 

It is said that when the Russians occupied 
Sitka their houses were not models of cleanli- 
ness. Some of them were in the habit of 



In Alaskan Waters. 



231 



keeping poultry in the rooms over the sleep- 
ing--chamber, and as the little windows were 
never opened except at long intervals the 
odor was not very captivating. 



Pigs and 










goats at that time were allowed to roam 
the streets at their own sweet will and took 
full advantage of their unrestricted liberty. 



232 To California and Alaska. 

We left Sitka on the afternoon of the 2 2d 
of May. All the acquaintances we had made 
begged us to remain over until the next day, 
promising that they would arrange an Indian 
war-dance in the evening, but our time being 
limited we were obliged to take our departure. 
The mission band came down to the dock and 
gave us a serenade just before we sailed away. 
We ran until about dark, when we entered 
Peril Straits and anchored in Fish Bay for the 
niorht. 

At three o'clock on the followinor morninof. 
May 23d, we left Fish Bay in Peril Straits, 
passed through the rapids, and out into the 
open sound, bound for Glacier Bay. We went 
through Chatham Strait, leaving Admiralty 
Island on our rieht, gfoinof around Port Au- 
gusta, and passing by Port Frederick, Port Adol- 
phus, and Bartlett. The waters in this region 
are totally unexplored. After we entered 
Chatham Strait bound for the north, Captain 
Carroll remained in the pilot-house, as there 
were no soundings, and he was the only man 
on board who had <iver been through these 
waters before. We were constantly meeting 
large floes of ice, and the vessel had to cut 
throuo^h them. Some of the icebergs must 



In Alaskan ]]^aters, 233 

have been fully three or four hundred feet 
square, and of proportionate mass. 

At this time the weather was extremely dis- 
agreeable ; the wind was cold, and a fine mist 
was fallinof all the time. The climatic condi- 
tlons, combined with the bleak-looking appear- 
ance of the country, devoid of all vegetation, 
was anything but cheerful, but it helped us to 
realize what a dreary and desolate journey a 
trip to the Arctic regions must be. As our 
vessel was built entirely of steel, we were, of 
course, obliged to exercise unusual care in 
sailing ; If we had run on a rock, or into an 
iceberg. It would probably have made a hole 
in her, and sunk her at once. This was one 
of the first iron vessels that had ever been 
through these waters ; Captain Carroll re- 
marked, however, that he felt very much safer 
with a good wooden vessel, because in case 
she sprung a leak he would be able to patch 
it up. We had rain almost steadily from the 
time we started, though now and then the 
weather would clear up for an hour or so. As 
it was almost impossible to go out on deck, we 
were forced to amuse ourselves In the cabin by 
playing cards and backgammon for hours at a 
time. 



234 ^'' California and Alaska. 

In the afternoon, as we neared the Muir 
Glacier, we met large fields of floating ice. 
As we travelled towards the north the scenery 
changed entirely ; there were no signs of vege- 
tation to be seen, the whole surrounding coun- 
try was one mass of rocks, w^hile the waters 
were dotted with barren and desolate islands. 
We arrived at the Great Glacier about four 
o'clock in the afternoon. We ran up very 
close, then drifted back, and threw out anchor 
on the east shore. A boat was lowered, and 
some of the party went ashore, and walked up 
over the glacier. Pieces of this icy mountain 
were falling away repeatedly, the noise of their 
falling being similar to the sound of heavy 
artillery. During the whole of this particular 
afternoon there was not a period of five minutes 
during which we did not see or hear large 
pieces of ice falling, the masses being so large 
sometimes that they caused the vessel to rock. 

We anchored at this point all night, leaving 
about half-past three o'clock the following 
morning, as soon as we could see. We- 
travelled south to Ainsley Island; here, in- 
stead of going down through Chatham Strait, 
as we did when we came up, we turned around 
and went north, towards Lynn Channel, bear- 



In Alaskan Waters. 235 

Ing off sharply to our right round Admiralty 
Island, croinof throutrh Stevens' Passacfe, then 
back atrain between Doucrlas Island and the 
mainland to Port Dousflas. We arrived at 
Douglas about two o'clock in the afternoon. 
It had rained steadily all day, and we had not 
been able to see any of the mountains ; at times 
the fog was dangerously thick. 

After tying up at the wharf, our party went 
through the celebrated Treadwell Mine, which 
has the largest stamp-mill In the world ; it 
is owned principally by Mr. D. O. Mills, and 
some gentlemen of San Francisco. We passed 
through a tunnel into the mountain, and en- 
tered the mine. The ore is all of a low grade, 
and is worth about ten dollars per ton. It 
is taken out by the use of Sargent drills 
worked by compressed air. The ore is quar- 
ried the same as any ordinary stone, after 
which it is all put into the crusher, and then 
into the stamp-mill. 

We spent two hours in this mine, after which 
we went across to Juneau, where we were 
obliged to fill the tank of our steamer with 
water. We remained there until sev^en o'clock 
in the evening. Juneau enjoys the distinction 
of being one of the dirtiest towns we had yet 



236 To California and Alaska. 

seen. The place was full of jDeople, one hun- 
dred and sixty having arrived on the last trip 
of the Ancon, drawn to the locality on account 
of the orreat mininor excitement which existed 
there at the time. Only a few days before we 
arrived, a party struck, about thirty miles 
south of the town, a rich silver ore, which 
assayed $160 per ton. While at Juneau, at 
the special request of a young lady in New 
York, who is much interested in the work, we 
called upon Miss Matthews, who is in charge 
of the Presbyterian Mission here. While mak- 
ing this call we saw a young bear cub in the 
street ; we purchased it, and had it taken on 
board the boat, where it greatly amused the 
children. 

We left the dock at half-past three in one of 
the heaviest rains we had so far seen. A short 
distance from here we passed Bishop's Point, 
and if we had had more time would have 
turned off into Taku Inlet, and sailed up to 
a very large glacier which is at the head of it. 
As we passed through Stevens' Passage we 
left Holcomb's Bay on our left. The old 
pilot we had on board told us that some 
twenty years ago, while he was sailing in this 
vicinity as mate on a vessel, the ship anchored 



In Alaskan ]Vatcrs. 237 

here one night and did some trading with the 
Indians. There was some misunderstanding 
between the captain and the chief of the tribe, 
and the captain, in some way, insulted the 
Indians. That night the savages boarded 
the ship, and taking possession, completely 
stripped her, the crew barely escaping with 
their lives. 

At nine o'clock, on the morning of Saturday, 
May 25th, the clouds broke away as we were 
entering Prince Frederick Sound, coming 
through Stevens' Passage from Juneau. We 
here retraced our steps through Wrangel Nar- 
rows, and, after leaving the narrows, bore off 
to our left for Fort Wranorel. In the sunshine 
on this day the country looked beautiful, and 
it was the first opportunity we had had for 
many days to take a really good photograph. 

On our arrival at Fort Wrangel, at half- 
past one, every one went ashore. The town 
consists of about forty or fifty Indian houses, 
two missions and stores, and two or three 
houses in which a few white people live. Fort 
Wrangel is chiefly celebrated for its totem 
poles, of which the accompanying sketch will 
give a very good idea, as it will also of the 
street and stores. We understood that there 



238 To California and Alaska, 

was a large cannery about thirty miles north 

of this place, but we did not have time to visit it. 

After spending an hour and a half on shore, 

we started on our way to Vancouver. The 




bear which we obtained at Juneau proved to be 
a great source of pleasure to the children. He 
grew tame very rapidly, and became quite a pet. 
Sunday, May 26th, was the first really pleas- 
ant day we had had since leaving Vancouver, 
more than a week before. As already stated, 
we had had an hour or two of sunlight at 
times, but this particular Sunday was lovely 
from beginning to end ; there was not only an 
absence of rain, but the weather was so mild 



In Alaskan Waters. 



239 



that we were all able to sit on the deck 
throucrhout the entire day. On the same even- 
ing, however, as we were crossing Charlotte 
Sound, about half-way over, it began to rain 
very hard, and by eight o'clock it became so 
thick that we had difficulty in finding our way 
into the narrows beyond. We looked forward 
eagerly to our arrival at Vancouver the fol- 
lowing day, as we expected to find there mail 
and telegrams ; for the ten preceding days we 
had had no chance of receiving any communi- 
cation from our friends. 




CHAPTER XXI. 



VICTORIA— WINNIPEG— HUNTING EXPERIENCES. 



We arrived at Vancouver about five o'clock 
on the afternoon of Monday, May 27th, and 
found there a large number of mail-bags, tele- 
grams, and packages awaiting us. We re- 
mained until eight o'clock, removing our spare 
baggage and attending to necessary corre- 
spondence, when we left for Victoria, which 
we reached, after a pleasant run, during the 
night. 

After breakfast, in the morning, we went to 
the office of the Northern Pacific Express 
Company, and found there two lost mail-bags, 
which we should have received at Lake Pend 
d'Oreille. In the mornings we took a drive 
around the town ; in the afternoon some of 
the party took a steam launch and made a 
trip to Esquimalt and the English naval 
depot, while the rest drove over there in car- 

240 



Hu7iting Experiences. 241 

riages. The roads on the island are excellent, 
being macadamized as they are in England. 
A number of Engflish men-of-war are stationed 
here, among them some of the latest and most 
approved ironclads. 

Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, 
and is in the southern part of Vancouver 
Island. From the city one has a fine view of 
the Olympia Mountains, just across the straits 
in Oregon, and, to the east, snow-capped 
Mount Baker. There is one railway on the 
island, and it leads to the mountains, the coal- 
fields, and to the harbor of Nanaimo. Fine 
deposits of anthracite coal are said to exist 
in the far interior of the western portion of 
the island. During the summer months a 
steamer leaves Victoria every two weeks for 
Alaska. The climate is much like that of the 
south of England. 

On our return from Esquimalt we all met 
at the Isla7ider, and through the courtesy of 
Captain Irving enjoyed a sail up the " Arm," 
a beautiful inlet from the sea, both shores of 
which are lined with handsome villas, occupied 
by wealthy residents of Victoria. 

We returned to the boat in time for dinner, 
and immediately afterward started for Van- 



242 To California and Alaska. 

couver. Instead of following a direct route 
we ran around to Esquimalt Harbor, and 
sailed in amono- the Encrjish ironclads, thus 
getting a very good view of the fleet. 

Our trip on the steamer /jr/rf;^^/^'?' was charm- 
ing and was thoroughly enjoyed, much of our 
pleasure being due to the kindness and 
courtesy of Captains Carroll and Irving, both 
of whom took special pains to describe the 
various points we visited. During the ten 
days we were on board the steamer, our life 
was comfortable in the extreme. There was 
no part of the boat which we were not wel- 
come to visit, and most of the men, when not 
below with the ladies, spent the greater part 
of their time in Captain Irving's apartment, 
or in the pilot-house. 

Although we thoroughly appreciated the 
grandeur, magnificence, and novelty of the 
scenery we had witnessed during our ten days 
in Alaskan waters, yet we were all quite 
agreed that, weird, strange, and grand though 
it might be, it did not begin to equal what we 
had seen on the Canadian Pacific road near 
Mount Stephen when we crossed the Rockies, 
or Mount Macdonald when we journeyed over 
the S el kirks. 



Hunting- Experiences. 



243 



On our return to Vancouver, on the morn- 
incr of May 29th, we found our special train 
backed down upon the wharf, ready to receive 
us for our homeward trip. Everything was im- 
mediately transferred from the boat to the cars. 
We had intended stopping over at Shuswap 
Lake to fish, but we received word from Mr. 
Marpole that the flies and mosquitoes 
were biting faster than the fish ; he 



^ SKttcK onthc C P-Ry — TRASER CAWON-sho^ino 3TowvelS 










informed us it would be better to continue 
directly to BanfT. 

Our train really looked better now than on 
the day we started from New York ; the trucks 
of the cars had all been overhauled and painted. 
Mr. Abbott did all he possibly could for our 
comfort. 



244 -^ Calijornia and Alaska. 

The ride up the Fraser River Canyon was 
extremely interesting ; the scenery seemed to 
be even more beautiful than it did the day we 
journeyed down. We arrived at the junction 
of the Thompson and Fraser rivers about 
three o'clock in the afternoon, and reached 
Kamloops Lake about seven o'clock, just as 
we were about sitting down to dinner. None 
of us before had realized what a beautiful 
sheet of water this is. We reached Kamloops 
about nine o'clock, where Mr. Marpole and 
his master mechanic met us. 

As it rained very hard on the morning of 
May 30th, we abandoned our intention of 
going to the Glacier, and rode directly through 
to Banff. As we passed through we were 
unable to see Mount Macdonald owing to the 
fog and mist hanging over it ; but the scenery 
going up from Macdonald, alongside of the 
Kicking Horse Canyon to the summit under- 
neath Mount Stephen, seemed to us even 
grander than it did on our outward trip. We 
arrived at Banff about four o'clock, where we 
took carriages and drove to the Hot Springs, 
and afterwards to the Hotel Banff, which is 
kept by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Here 
we had an excellent dinner, after which we 



Hunting Experiences. 



245 



walked to the Bow River and then back to 
the cars in the evening. 

Banff is a station for the Rocky Mountain 
Park of Canada. This park is twenty-six 
miles long, about ten wide, and embraces the 
valleys of the Bow, Spray, and Cascade rivers, 
Devil's-Head Lake, and many mountains be- 
yond. The hotel here is kept by the railroad 



.;'/|f^|i^^^ 







'^^^-^. 



••-V- 7t^^>^ ' company in the finest 

ifW''''v^' ' and most approved style. It 

was as good as any hotel we stopped at on 
our journey, almost equalling the hotel at 
Monterey. The building is beautifully lo- 
cated on the side of the mountain overlook- 
ing the Bow River Valley, is supplied with 
every modern convenience and luxury that 
one could wish for, and is kept open during 
the entire year. 



246 To California and Alaska. 

Many excursions are made from here into 
the mountains by sportsmen, who can readily 
obtain the horses and camping outfits necessary 
for a two or three weeks' sojourn. The moun- 
tains surroundinof Banff averao^e in height from 
seven to ten thousand feet. Devil's-Head 
Lake is situated at the very foot of Fairholme 
Mountains, in the very heart of snow-capped 
mountains, its shores rising perpendicularly 
out of the water with little if any vegetation 
upon them. The depth of the lake is in pro- 
portion to the height of the mountains at its 
sides. We had heard that very large trout 
were to be obtained in this lake, and conse- 
quently had made arrangements to drive out 
there in two wagons. As it was early in the 
season we were not able to obtain many boats ; 
a few of the party went out, however, and 
after an hour's fishing Mr. Kean returned 
with a forty-two-pound lake trout. This 
locality is particularly celebrated for big-horned 
sheep, and mountain goats are common on the 
neighborinor heights. 

The Sulphur Springs at Banff are highly 
appreciated by invalids. The air here is soft 
and balmy, and the records show that the 
winters are not as severe in the valley as one 



Hunting Experiences. 247 

might be led to expect. The government has 
built excellent roads, running in different direc- 
tions, all through the valley and up the 
mountain sides. A good livery is kept at the 
hotel, where horses and carriages can be ob- 
tained for excursions in the vicinity. Bridle- 
paths have also been cut to quite a distance in 
the mountains. A party could stay a couple of 
weeks here with very great profit, not only on 
account of the shooting and fishing, but for the 
pleasure that would be derived from excur- 
sions to the different points of interest. 

We stopped for a few minutes about ten 
miles farther east, at Anthracite, a place where 
discoveries of anthracite coal have been made. 
From that point we did not stop until we 
reached Calgary, where we remained about 
half an hour, at the request of the mayor and 
some of the prominent citizens, and enjoyed a 
drive around the city. Calgary can be com- 
pared to the town of Great Falls, in Montana ; 
it seems to be similarly located, and will 
eventually become a distributing point for the 
mines and mountain region surroundino- it ; 
it is understood that this is now the case 
with regard to the Northwest and Mackenzie 
River country. The growth of this town 



248 To California and Alaska. 

within the past four years has been something 
phenomenal. 

From Calgary we hurried on eastward until, 
about sundown, we reached Medicine Hat, 
situated on the Saskatchewan River. This 
place is the home of Mr. Niblock, through 
whose energy enough funds have been raised 
to build a large hospital for the railroad people. 
The station at Medicine Hat is one of the 
prettiest buildings on the prairie ; the experi- 
mental garden in front of the building in the 
summer time is one mass of flowers. 

We left Medicine Hat at half-past six on 
the evening of May 31st, taking with us Mr. 
Niblock's assistant, Mr. Coon, his celebrated 
duckine doe " Punch," and another do^ which 
we borrowed from a gentleman in Medicine 
Hat. We ran slowly during the evening, so 
timing ourselves as to get within about half a 
mile of Goose Lake at three o'clock in the 
morning. The train was stopped here on the 
main track, Mr. Coon having with him a 
telegraph instrument with which he tapped 
the wires and kept all east- and west-bound 
trains out of the way. We then had coffee, 
and the gentlemen of the party started with 
their guns and walked up the track, just as 



Hu7iting Experiences. 249 

day was breaking. As we neared the lake, 
which lay to the south, we could hear geese 
and ducks, as well as many other kinds of 
wild-fowl, making an incessant squawking and 
calline. When we reached the lake we found 
it fairly alive with geese and ducks of every 
description ; snipe, yellow-legs, and avecet 
were there in myriads. Owing to the easy 
manner in which wild-fowl can be killed here, 
the lake has been nicknamed, by Mr. Van 
Home, "Blind-hunter's Lake"; he truthfully 
contends that all a man has to do is to go 
there, fire off a gun, and he is sure to hit 
something. It must be added, however, that 
this remark only applies to the gunning season. 
As it was the close of the season, and our 
party only desired to obtain a few specimens 
of game, to be mounted in Winnipeg, we 
separated, some of us going to the north side 
of the lake, while others went to the opposite 
side. About half-past six we returned to the 
railroad track, at the north end of the lake, 
each with a few specimens of almost every kind 
of wild-fowl. All the party then went back 
along the track, and signalled for the train to 
come up, when we got on. We made a run for 
a short distance until we came to another part 



250 To California and Alaska. 

of the lake, where a number of swan were 
seen. We stopped the train, and two of the 
party tried to stalk them, but found it im- 
possible to get near them, as the swan would 
invariably get up just before the sportsmen 
were within gun-shot distance. At Rush Lake 
we made another stop. This is, probably, the 
finest shooting lake on the line of the Cana- 
dian Pacific ; wild-fowl shooting is said to be 
better here than anywhere else along the road. 
After spending a half-hour at this lake, we all 
returned to the train and had breakfast. While 
waiting at the siding at this lake we were 
passed by the west-bound Continental. From 
Rush Lake to Winnipeg we made no stop, 
except to change engines and take water. We 
arrived at Winnipeg about eleven o'clock in 
the evening, having made exceptionally good 
time. 

The following day, Sunday, the second of 
June, the weather was bright, clear, and quite 
warm. Shortly after breakfast the American 
Consul called upon us, and we arranged with 
him for a visit to Governor Shultz. Some 
of the party took carriages and drove to 
church. 

In the afternoon the children all took a 



Hunting Experiences. 251 

drive, and the men of the party visited Mr. 
Hines, the taxidermist, and left with him a 
number of heads and specimens that we had 
procured in the Rocky Mountains and else- 
where, such as moose, elk, and the black- 
tailed deer. The writer had the pleasure of 
capturing one of the largest moose heads that 
had ever been seen in that section of the 
country ; also quite a large elk head. 

We all enjoyed our visit in Winnipeg, es- 
pecially our call upon Governor Shultz, whom 
we found to be an exceedingly agreeable per- 
son. He was very anxious, not only to hear 
about our trip to Alaska, but also to give the 
writer information in regard to the Mackenzie 
River Basin country, of which he had made a 
study, having been a member of a commission, 
appointed some years ago by the Canadian 
Government, to make a report on the subject. 
He kindly furnished us with a copy of this 
document. He was very anxious that some 
time in the near future the writer should make 
up a party and visit the Mackenzie River, 
following it down to its outlet. He explained 
that this scheme was quite practicable, pro- 
vided the writer could obtain a letter from the 
Hudson Bay Company giving him the right 



252 To California and Alaska. 

to use their boats on the river or its tribu- 
taries, wherever they might be found ; and 
he, very kindly, gave the assurance that he 
could obtain such a letter. Such a trip, he 
estimated, would occupy about five or six 
months. 

Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, is situ- 
ated at the junction of the Red and Assini- 
boine rivers, both of which are navigable by 
steamships. For many years this city has 
been the chief post of the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany, and to-day that company carries on a 
very large business with the people in the 
reorions to the north and west. As it was Sun- 
day we were not able to visit the warehouses of 
the Hudson Bay Company, and could only see 
them from the outside. They look more like 
large military barracks than the buildings of a 
private company. Governor Shultz informed 
us that in former years the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany were government, counsel, and every- 
thing else to this part of the country ; that 
they made their own laws, and even conducted 
the trials. He also informed us that very few 
people believe Lord Lonsdale ever penetrated 
the Arctic region as far as he claimed he did ; 
in fact, that reports from Hudson Bay officials 



Hunting Experiences. 253 

said that no such person had ever been at cer- 
tain posts, and that it was next to impossible 
for him to have gone over to Mollesten's 
Land, or even to the eastern Arctic coast oppo- 
site ; besides, the trip from here westward to 
the Yukon would have required a longer 
period. 

The city is situated on a level plain ; the 
streets are very broad, and the buildings mostly 
of brick. Within the last few years the town, 
of course, has grown very rapidly, owing to the 
Canadian Pacific Railway passing through it, 
and the Manitoba Railroad reaching it from 
the south. Many branches of railroad now 
centre here. The Hudson Bay Company have 
a railway, which, when we were at Winnipeg, 
was completed as far as Shoal Lake, forty 
miles to the northwest. The depot of the 
Canadian Pacific Railway in this city is a hand- 
some and imposing building, and is the divi- 
sional headquarters for that part of the road 
from Port Arthur to Donald, a distance of 
1,454 miles; this is called the Western Division. 
The land offices of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
way are also located here. 

In conversing with the taxidermist, Mr. 
Hines, and his son, both of whom are ardent 



254 



To California and Alaska. 



sportsmen, they gave very interesting accounts 
of the game that can be found north of Winni- 
peg, at Lake Winnipeg. This game includes 
moose, caribou, bear, and, in the fall, any num- 
ber of ducks. They also informed us that the 
facilities for getting to the hunting grounds 
were very good. The sportsman could follow 




the Hall River nearly the whole distance, part 
of the way by steamboat and the rest of the 
way in canoes, making it exceedingly easy to 
take plenty of supplies. The country is said 
to resemble very much the Adirondacks or the 
lake region of Minnesota, from the fact that 
for miles and miles the hunter can eo from one 



Htinting Experiences. 



255 



lake to another, oftentimes without having to 
make any carry, while at others he would only 
have from one to three hundred feet carry to 
make. They told us, also, that the grounds 
for camping are excellent ; in fact, from their 
account we came to the conclusion that a trip 
there during the months of September or 
October would amply repay any sportsman. 





CHAPTER XXII. 



FROM WINNIPEG, HOMEWARD BOUND. 

We left Winnipeg at three o'clock on the 
afternoon of June 2d, arriving at Rat Portage 
about sundown. The scenery west from Lake 
Winnipeg was very similar to what we had 
seen the two preceding days, until we 
approached Rat Portage, when there were 
some very picturesque views and numerous 
rock-bound lakes that we passed, many of 
which were studded with small islands, and 
were very pretty. 

We arrived at Port Arthur about six o'clock 
on the morning of June 3d, first stopping at 
Fort William. The ride by moonlight the 
night before was through scenery different 
from anything we had seen heretofore. The 
road twisted and turned around many low 
hills, across small lakes, winding down rivers, 
running all the time through an exceedingly 

256 



FroTn Winnipeg, Homeivard Bound. 257 

picturesque country. The effect of the moon- 
light, now and then falHng upon these beauti- 
ful lakes, of which there was almost a continu- 
ous line, was so pleasing as to induce many of 
the party to sit out on the rear platform until 
quite late in the evening. If we had not been 
in a hurry to reach Nepigon, where the party 







^•~- 'T'/'^A^ 



\**:\A-^ 



proposed to have some fishing, we would have 
stopped over at Winnipeg until the morning, 
in order to enjoy this scenery, which, though 
it was not grand, was exceedingly beautiful. 

We arrived at Port Arthur, more commonly 
called Prince Arthur's Landing, at about eight 
o'clock in the morning, and remained there 
until the Indians, who were to accompany us 
on our fishing tour, arrived from P'ort Wil- 
liam, about half-past one. We procured a 



258 To California and Alaska. 

box-car for the canoes. The morning was 
occupied in visiting various stores, and pur- 
chasing provisions and needed articles for the 
four or five days' camping trip up the Nepi- 
o"on. We also went down to the docks, and 
went through one of the fine steam-ships of 
the Canadian Pacific Company, which ply be- 
tween Port Arthur and Owen's Sound. Both 
this place and Fort William are noted for 
havinor a o^reat number of laree erain elevators. 
The extensive docks at Port Arthur are also 
a notable feature of the place. 

The steamship that we took here was a 
passenger boat, fitted up with every modern 
luxury and convenience. The engine-room 
was so arranged that visitors, instead of being 
warned away by the sign " No Admittance," 
were permitted to go through almost every 
part of it. These boats were built on the 
Clyde, in Scotland, and the different pieces 
brought to this country and put together at 
Lake Superior. The principal freight carried 
by them is grain. 

Directly across the bay from Port Arthur is 
Thunder Cape. Behind this cape is Silver 
Islet, noted for having yielded fabulous 
amounts of silver ore. On the Western 



From Winnipeg, Homeivard Bound. 259 

Division, west of Port Arthur, " Central " time 
and the twenty-four-hour system are used. 
East of Port Arthur, Eastern time and the 
old twelve-hour system are used. 

We made the short run from Port Arthur to 
Nepigon, and immediately on our arrival went 
down the Hudson Bay Company's coast, and 
called on Mr. Flanagan, the head ofificial of 
that company. He had been notified by Mr. 
Van Home to have everything ready for us in 
the way of necessary supplies ; also canoes 
and Indians. We procured from him another 
boat, some Indian tents and blankets, and the 
party started up the river. It consisted of 
Messrs. Kean, Purdy, Frank Webb, and 
Georo^e Bird. The writer and Dr. McLane 
had arranged to remain with the ladies and 
children while the other members of the party 
made their trip up the river. We had heard 
that the Nepigon had been pretty thoroughly 
fished, owing to its accessibility, and we were 
told that by going on to Jackfish we would 
find a number of streams, both east and west, 
that could easily be reached, and where the 
fishing was very good. We arrived at Jack- 
fish about sundown. The road from Nepigon 
to Jackfish sweeps around the north shore of 



>.6o 



To Califoi^nia and Alaska. 



Lake Superior, and represents a section of the 
railroad upon which some of the heaviest work 
on the entire Hne had to be done. The scene 
changes constantly, the road sometimes going 
over deep, rugged cuttings, viaducts, passing 
through tunnels, and sometimes on the very 
face of the cliff. One or two miles of road 
over which we passed cost the company nearly 







■tt^-- 












$500,000 per mile. The water along the 
shore at some places is from three to five 
hundred feet deep. It was in this section of 
the country, views of which are elsewhere 
given, that the Canadian Pacific Railway spent 
over $1,500,000 in dynamite alone. The 
company had to use such a large amount of 
this explosive that they built an establishment 



From. Winnipeg, Homeivaj'd Bound. 261 

of their own for its manufacture ; the building 
was located on an island, which can be seen 
from the train. 

At Schreiber, a divisional point, we changed 
engines. The Division Superintendent whom 
we met here very kindly introduced the writer 
to the engineer of this section of the road, a 
great fisherman. He not only told us where 
the best fishing was to be had, but arranged 
with the foreman of the section at Jackfish, 
also quite a fisherman, to take us up and down 
the track on his hand car as often as we mieht 
desire. 




3/ 






SKCTCH FROAI t«e 



From Schreiber to Jackfish the road is car- 
ried through and around many lofty and 
precipitous promontories, and over a great 
number of high trestles. Jackfish is beauti- 



262 To California and Alaska. 

fully situated on Jackfish Bay. The mouth of 
the bay is filled with islands and is one of the 
land-locked harbors on the north coast of Lake 
Superior. The place is known principally as 
a fishing hamlet, and, besides the depot, con- 
tains only a few huts occupied by fishermen. 
Lake trout from ten to twenty pounds in 
weight are brought in every evening by small 
sloops. These fish are taken in gill nets in 
the deep water beyond the islands. Quite a 
number of brook trout are also caught in this 
way, each boat bringing in from thirty to sev- 
enty-five fish. The fish are cleaned at once 
and shipped by express to the East, nearly 
every express train which stops here taking on 
four or five barrels. When a fisherman comes 
across a particularly fine brook trout, or lake 
trout, he packs it in ice and ships it to some 
particular customer in Ottawa. 

Early on the morning of June 4th, Dr. 
McLane and the writer started on the hand- 
car with the section foreman and three men 
and rode four miles east to Steel River, cross- 
ing the railroad bridge there and going down 
to the mouth of the river, where it empties 
into Lake Superior. 

The river here is filled with pools from 



Fi^oiii Winnipeg , Homcivard Bound. 263 

twelve to fifteen feet deep, and at other places 
is from two to three feet deep, though the 
current is very swift ; it is about one hundred 
yards wide. The writer had scarcely made a 
cast before he struck a very large trout ; after 
some very lively work, playing him about ten 
minutes in the swift current, the fish was 
landed and found to weigh about three pounds. 
A second attempt resulted in hooking another 
trout not quite so large. The fishing in this 
river is said to be better than in any other 
river on the lake coast. Very few people, 
however, are aware of this fact, nearly all fish- 
ing parties going to the Nepigon. After lunch 
we went up the river some two miles north of 
the railroad bridge to one of the prettiest 
pools we had ever seen. We had fairly good 
luck here and, in the afternoon, returned on 
the hand-car to Tackfish. On the followino- 
day, Dr. McLane not feeling very well, the 
writer made the same trip without him, but as 
the weather was very warm he met with little 
success. One of the men on the car had been 
out in the morning to a little brook called 
Blackbird Creek, about two miles west of 
Jackfish, and caught ten fine trout with a fly; 
some of the trout weighed as much as four 



264 To Calijornia and Alaska. 

pounds each. After lunch the writer took 
Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Purdy in a sail-boat, and 
sailed over to this creek, where we got out and 
fished awhile. We then went up on a high 
trestle, and waited for Mr. Van Home, who 
was expected to come along with our train. 
The day before he had wired us that he was 
on his way to the Pacific coast, and he would 
stop and take up our train with his " special " 
and take us back to Nepigon, where we had 
arranged to remain a couple of days until the 
boys came down the river. 

Owing to some little delay down the line we 
had to wait on the trestle two hours, but Mr. 
Van Home finally came along and picked us 
up. He and his party dined with us that 
evening, and after leaving us at Nepigon he 
started westward for the Pacific coast. His 
last words to us were : " Make yourselves at 
home, and call for what you want." 

Thursday, June 6th, we spent at Nepigon, 
waiting for the boys to come down the riv^er, 
and did but very little fishing. The flies had 
got to be quite thick, and we had to be very 
careful all day to keep them from getting into 
the cars. Dr. McLane and the writer spent 
the evening with Mr. Flanagan and his family, 



From Winnipeg , Homcivard Bo7ind. 265 

and were delightfully entertained by his charm- 
ing wife and daughter. Mr. Flanagan has 
been located here with his family quite a num- 
ber of years, and is in charge of the Hudson 
Bay property. Some foot-races and rifle- 
matches between the porters on our train, 
which we got up on this afternoon, proved to 
be very amusing. 

About six o'clock the next evening word 
was brought to us by an Indian that our party 
was coming down the river ; we telegraphed 
at once to Port Arthur to send an engine to 
take us East. The boys arrived about seven 
o'clock, and, as soon as possible after their 
arrival, we started for Montreal. 

After leaving Jackfish, our journey led us 
through a very wild and barren country, per- 
haps the most uninteresting portion of the 
Canadian Pacific road. There was one suc- 
cession of small lakes and insignificant moun- 
tains. We changed engines four times after 
we left Schreiber — at White River, Chapleau, 
Carter, and Sudbury. Chapleau is charmingly 
situated on Lake Kinogama, and here the 
railroad company have workshops, and a num- 
ber of neat cottages for their employes. 

We arrived at Sudbury about evening. This 



266 To California ajid Alaska. 

place has a connection with the Sault Ste. 
Marie Railroad, through to St. Paul and Min- 
neapolis, by the Duluth, South Shore, and 
Atlantic and " Soo " route. Just before this 
time a new passenger line had been opened 
from Minneapolis to Boston by this route. 
Large copper mines are situated a short dis- 
tance from Sudbury, and a number of smelting 
works have been erected there. 

We left Sudbury on the evening of Satur- 
day, June 8th, and arrived at Ottawa on the 
morning of the 9th, passing North Bay, a very 
pretty town on Lake Nipissing, during the 
night. The country from Sudbury to North 
Bay is very much frequented by sportsmen ; 
bear, moose, and deer are said to abound 
throughout this region — such, at least, was the 
statement made by our train-hands. Very 
little timber seems to have been cut in this 
region, but wherever the land has been cleared 
it has been immediately taken for agricultural 
purposes. 

We spent the morning in Ottawa, and left 
about one o'clock for Montreal, making the 
run in three hours, and arriving in the new 
station of the Canadian Pacific Railway, near 
the Windsor Hotel. It was here that we 



From Winnipeg, Homeward Bound. 267 

began to feel that we had almost completed 
our long and interesting trip. This new depot 
of the Canadian Pacific Railway is probably one 
of the finest passenger depots in the country. 

Immediately on our arrival we went to the 
Windsor Hotel for dinner, and there met the 
genial manager, Mr. Swett, who gave us a 
very cordial reception, as usual. In the evening 
we walked around the city, getting back to the 
train about bedtime. 

Our train was taken around to the Grand 
Trunk Depot, and, on the morning of Monday, 
June loth, Mr. Flagg, Mr. Louis Webb, and 
Mr. Smith arrived from New York to welcome 
our return. We had intended to stay all day 
in Montreal, but towards noon the weather 
became warm and sultry, and, as the party 
became a little restless and anxious to go to 
Shelburne, the writer telegraphed to St. Albans 
for an engine, and we left at five o'clock, reach- 
ing home about three hours later. The people 
of the whole town turned out to orreet us on our 
arrival, and gave us an old-fashioned and right 
hearty welcome. 

Before closincr this record of our western 
trip, it is only proper to say that the whole 
party were unanimous in the opinion that the 



268 



To Calif or )iia and Alaska. 



courtesy and kind attention shown by Mr. Van 
Home and all of the officials connected with 
the Canadian Pacific Railway could never be 
fully repaid, and that it was only through their 
efforts that our trip had been so thoroughly 
enjoyable and interesting. It is not too much 
to say that Mr. Van Home literally verified 
the statement made in a letter to the writer 
prior to the commencement of our journey ; 
that statement was that the Canadian Pacific 
Railway was at the disposal of the writer to 
come and go on as he willed, and all that he 
had to do was to command. Mr. Van Home's 
generous hospitality was certainly thoroughly 
appreciated by every member of the party, 
and will never be forgotten by the writer. 

THE END. 




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